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Executions

Methods of Execution

Lethal injection is the most widely-used method of execution, but states still authorize other methods, including electrocution, gas chamber, hanging, and firing squad.

Overview

The primary means of execution in the U.S. have been hanging, electrocution, the gas chamber, firing squad, and lethal injection. The Supreme Court has never found a method of execution to be unconstitutional, though some methods have been declared unconstitutional by state courts. The predominance of lethal injection as the preferred means of execution in all states in the modern era may have put off any judgment by the Court regarding older methods.

Because of a resistance by drug manufacturers to provide the drugs typically used in lethal injections, some states now allow the use of alternative methods if lethal injection cannot be performed. Controversies surrounding the method to be used have delayed executions in many states, contributing to an overall decline in the use of the death penalty.

Authorized Methods

NOTE: [Brackets] around a state indicate that the state authorizes the listed method as an alternative method if other methods are found to be unconstitutional or are unavailable/impractical. Click on the state to obtain specific information about the methods authorized.

Method# of executions by method since 1976# of states authorizing methodJurisdictions that Authorize

Lethal Injection

1390

31 states+ and U.S. Military and U.S. Gov’t

In South Carolina, lethal injection may be elected as an alternative method, if available.

+includes 4 states that no longer have an active death penalty

Alabama, Arizona, Arkansas, California, Colorado^, Delaware,* Florida, Georgia, Idaho, Indiana, Kansas, Kentucky, Louisiana, Mississippi, Missouri, Montana, Nebraska, Nevada, New Hampshire,** North Carolina, Ohio, Oklahoma, Oregon, Pennsylvania, [South Carolina], South Dakota, Tennessee, Texas, Utah, Washington*, Wyoming, U.S. Military, U.S. Government

^Colorado abolished the death penalty prospectively on March 23, 2020, and those on death row at that time had their sentences commuted.

* Delaware and Washington have declared their capital sentencing procedures unconstitutional and have resentenced all death-row prisoners to life without parole.

**New Hampshire abolished the death penalty but the repeal may not apply retroactively, leaving a prisoner on death row facing possible execution.

To find the drug protocols used by states, see State-by-State Lethal Injection.

Electrocution

163

8 states (in South Carolina, electrocution is the primary method; the other 7 have lethal injection as primary method).

[Alabama], [Arkansas], Florida, Kentucky, [Mississippi], [Oklahoma], South Carolina, [Tennessee]

The supreme courts of Georgia (2001) and Nebraska (2008) have ruled that the use of the electric chair violates their state constitutional prohibitions against cruel and unusual punishment.

Virginia had authorized the electric chair as a method of execution in some cases, but it repealed the death penalty in March 2021.

Lethal Gas

11

7 states (all have lethal injection as primary method)

[Alabama], Arizona, California, [Mississippi], Missouri, [Oklahoma], [Wyoming]

Hanging

3

3 states* (all have lethal injection as primary method)

*Includes two states that no longer have an active death penalty statute.

Delaware, [New Hampshire],** Washington

**New Hampshire abolished the death penalty but the repeal may not apply retroactively, leaving a prisoner on death row facing possible execution. Courts in Delaware and Washington struck down the states’ death penalty statutes and applied those rulings to all prisoners on the states’ death rows.

Firing Squad

3

4 states (in South Carolina, electrocution is the primary method; the other states have lethal injection as primary method)

[Mississippi], [Oklahoma], [Utah], [South Carolina]

News & Developments

Secrecy

May 02, 2023

As Tennessee Legislature Ends, Two Death-Penalty Bills Fail and One Passes

Bills to alter the state’s method of exe­cu­tion and to make the exe­cu­tion process more trans­par­ent failed in Tennessee’s leg­is­la­ture this year as its ses­sion con­clud­ed. In an effort to facil­i­tate exe­cu­tions bogged down by the state’s prob­lems with …

As Tennessee Legislature Ends, Two Death-Penalty Bills Fail and One Passes

Recent Legislative Activity

Mar 28, 2023

Idaho Steps Closer to Using the Firing Squad for Executions

Idaho will become the fifth state to autho­rize the fir­ing squad as a method of exe­cu­tion and may become the first state to manda­to­ri­ly impose it on a death row pris­on­er since 1976. Idaho’s Governor Brad Little signed HB 186 into law on March 24, 2…

Idaho Steps Closer to Using the Firing Squad for Executions
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