Executions

Lethal Injection

Though lethal injection has been used for a majority of the executions carried out in the modern era, it is plagued by problematic executions and controversy.

DPIC Report: Behind the Curtain

DPIC Report: Behind the Curtain

Secrecy and the Death Penalty in the United States

DPIC Page: Lethal Injection at the U.S. Supreme Court

DPIC Page: Lethal Injection at the U.S. Supreme Court

Overview 
 

All states and the fed­er­al gov­ern­ment use lethal injec­tion as their pri­ma­ry method of exe­cu­tion. Jurisdictions use a vari­ety of pro­to­cols typ­i­cal­ly employ­ing one, two, or three drugs. Most three-drug pro­to­cols use an anes­thet­ic or seda­tive, fol­lowed by a drug to par­a­lyze the inmate, and final­ly a drug to stop the heart. The one and two-drug pro­to­cols typ­i­cal­ly use an over­dose of an anes­thet­ic or seda­tive to cause death.

Although the con­sti­tu­tion­al­i­ty of lethal injec­tion has been upheld by the Supreme Court, the spe­cif­ic appli­ca­tions used in states con­tin­ues to be wide­ly chal­lenged pri­or to each exe­cu­tion. Because it is increas­ing­ly dif­fi­cult to obtain the drugs used in ear­li­er exe­cu­tions, states have resort­ed to exper­i­ment­ing with new drugs and drug com­bi­na­tions to car­ry out exe­cu­tions, result­ing in numer­ous pro­longed and painful exe­cu­tions. States are also turn­ing to pre­vi­ous­ly dis­card­ed forms of exe­cu­tion, such as the elec­tric chair and gas cham­ber, in the event that lethal drugs can­not be obtained.

At Issue 
 

Even though the issues sur­round­ing lethal injec­tion are far from set­tled, states are attempt­ing to cut off debate by con­ceal­ing their exe­cu­tion prac­tices under a veil of secre­cy. Recently passed laws bar the pub­lic from learn­ing the sources of lethal drugs being used, mak­ing it impos­si­ble to judge the reli­a­bil­i­ty of the man­u­fac­tur­er or the pos­si­ble expi­ra­tion of these drugs.

What DPIC Offers 
 

DPIC has state-by-state sum­maries of the meth­ods of exe­cu­tion cur­rent­ly in place and the types of drugs used in each exe­cu­tion in the past ten years. A recent DPIC report cov­ers the exe­cu­tion secre­cy laws that have been imposed in many states. Statements from var­i­ous phar­ma­ceu­ti­cal com­pa­nies bar­ring the use of their drugs in exe­cu­tions are also provided.

News & Developments

News

Dec 02, 2024

Arizona Attorney General Announces State Ready to Resume Executions as Governor Hobbs Abruptly Ends Independent Review of Execution Protocols

On November 26, 2024, Arizona Attorney General Kris Mayes announced her office will resume seek­ing exe­cu­tion war­rants. AG Mayes’ announce­ment comes after Governor Katie Hobbs end­ed the state’s inde­pen­dent review of its exe­cu­tion pro­to­col and process­es, dis­miss­ing retired fed­er­al mag­is­trate David Duncan before he had com­plet­ed his review. In a let­ter to Judge Duncan, Gov. Hobbs said his actions dur­ing the review went beyond his man­date. The review was launched in 2023, as new­ly elected Gov.

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News

Nov 22, 2024

New Resource: In Era of Secrecy, States Increasingly Restrict Media Access to Executions

On December 18, Joseph Corcoran is sched­uled to be the first per­son exe­cut­ed by Indiana offi­cials in 15 years. For the first time, the state will use a sin­gle drug, pen­to­bar­bi­tal, which comes from an unknown source and has been known to cause pris­on­ers ​“excru­ci­at­ing” pain dur­ing exe­cu­tions. But no media wit­ness­es will be present to relay what hap­pens to the pub­lic. Indiana is an out­lier in its pol­i­cy deci­sion to com­plete­ly exclude the press from wit­ness­ing exe­cu­tions in the state. But a…

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News

Oct 17, 2024

Idaho Amends Lethal Injection Execution Protocol and Sets Second Execution Date for Thomas Creech

On October 15, 2024, the Idaho Department of Corrections (IDOC) amend­ed its exe­cu­tion pro­to­col and facil­i­ties to enable staff to place a cen­tral intra­venous line, if nec­es­sary, to deliv­er lethal injec­tion drugs to a pris­on­er. IDOC now has a new exe­cu­tion prepa­ra­tion room in which venous access would be estab­lished pri­or to trans­fer­ring the pris­on­er to the exe­cu­tion cham­ber. This change, and accom­pa­ny­ing prison ren­o­va­tions this past sum­mer, came after the February 28, 2024 failed execution of…

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News

Sep 11, 2024

See What Utah Spent on Its First Execution in 14 Years

Taberon Honie was an American Indian from the Hopi-Tewa com­mu­ni­ty whose life was marked by pover­ty, sub­stance abuse, and gen­er­a­tional trau­ma. His par­ents were forced to attend Indian board­ing schools, which were noto­ri­ous­ly abu­sive and designed to strip Indian chil­dren of their cul­tur­al her­itage. They lat­er suf­fered from alco­holism and neglect­ed Mr. Honie and his sib­lings. Mr. Honie first tried alco­hol at age 5 and pro­gressed to hero­in and meth by the time he was a teenager.

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News

Aug 26, 2024

South Carolina Supreme Court Sets First Execution Date in More Than 13 Years

On August 23, 2024, the South Carolina Department of Corrections announced that the state supreme court has set a September 20, 2024, exe­cu­tion date for Freddie Owens, which would be the first exe­cu­tion in South Carolina since 2011. Mr. Owens was con­vict­ed and sen­tenced to death in 1999 for the killing of a con­ve­nience store clerk in Greenville, South Carolina and he was lat­er con­vict­ed in the mur­der of a cell­mate. In a July 31st rul­ing, the South Carolina Supreme Court decid­ed that the…

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