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
Secrecy and the Death Penalty in the United States
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.
Jul 27, 2018
Public Health Experts, Generic-Pharmaceuticals Association Warn Lethal-Injection Policies Put Public Health at Risk
State lethal-injection practices may have collateral consequences that place public health at risk, according to briefs filed in the U.S. Supreme Court on July 23, 2018 by public health experts and an association representing generic drug manufact…
Read MoreNews & Developments
Jun 29, 2020
U.S. Supreme Court Declines to Hear Execution Protocol Case, Removing Barrier to Resumption of Federal Executions
The U.S. Supreme Court has declined to hear a challenge to the federal execution protocol, removing a potential major obstacle to the Department of Justice’s (DOJ) plan to resume federal executions after a 17-year hiatus. The deci…
Jun 29, 2020
Capital Case Roundup — Death Penalty Court Decisions the Week of June 22, 2020
NEWS (6/26/20) — California: A California trial judge has accepted the January 29 recommendation by a Tulare County jury to sentence Hernan Rodriguez to death. The death sentence is the 12th DPIC is aware of so fa…
Jun 25, 2020
Regulatory Experts Ask Supreme Court to Overturn Ruling Lifting Injunction on Federal Executions
A group of 15 administrative law experts have filed an amicus curiae brief in support of death-row prisoners seeking U.S. Supreme Court review of a challenge to the federal government’s proposed execution protocol. The brief was f…
Jun 19, 2020
Capital Case Roundup — Death Penalty Court Decisions the Week of June 15, 2020
NEWS (6/19/20) — California: In one of the few capital trials to move forward during the COVID-19 pandemic, a San Jose jury acquitted Manuel Anthony Lopez of charges that he had raped and murdered his girlfriend’s two-year-old son.
Jun 13, 2020
Capital Case Roundup — Death Penalty Court Decisions the Week of June 8, 2020
NEWS (6/11/20) — Florida: The Florida Supreme Court applied new cases that retroactively changed the law regarding claims of intellectual disability and the unconstitutionality of death sentences imposed after non-unanimous jury votes for …
Jun 04, 2020
Arkansas Federal Court Rejects Death-Row Prisoners’ Challenge to State’s Use of Midazolam in Executions
U.S. District Judge Kristine Baker on June 1, 2020 denied a challenge brought by Arkansas death-row prisoners to the use of the controversial drug midazolam in carrying out executions. The ruling followed a
May 20, 2020
Nebraska Supreme Court Orders Release of Lethal-Injection Drug Records
In a major victory for media outlets and prisoner advocates, the Nebraska Supreme Court has ordered the state’s Department of Correctional Services (DCS) to release public records related to the procurement of drugs used in the 20…
May 07, 2020
Executions Remain On Hold as Federal Litigation on Oklahoma’s ‘Risky and Incomplete’ Lethal-Injection Protocol Moves Forward
Oklahoma will not seek to carry out any executions while litigation continues in federal court on the state’s lethal-injection protocol, a U.S. federal district court judge has announced.At a May 5, 2020 hearing on the Okla…
Apr 13, 2020
Medical Professionals Ask Death-Penalty States to Turn Over Execution Drugs Needed for Coronavirus Treatment
As hospitals throughout the country face shortages of crucial medications needed to treat patients with COVID-19, a group of leading anesthesiologists, pharmacists and medical academics is asking corrections officials in death-penalty states to tu…
Apr 07, 2020
U.S. Court of Appeals Lifts Injunction on Federal Executions, Returns Case to Lower Court for Further Litigation
A badly divided federal court of appeals has lifted a court order that had prevented the federal government from resuming executions after a hiatus of more than 16 years. In a fractured ruling with three separate opinions and no rationale…
