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Thread: Authorized Methods of Execution

  1. #1
    Administrator Heidi's Avatar
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    Authorized Methods of Execution

    Lethal Injection

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

    *New Mexico abolished the death penalty in 2009. However, the law wasn't retroactive, leaving two people on the state's death row.

    **Ohio adopted a single-drug lethal injection protocol in November 2009. Washington state adopted a single-drug protocol on March 2, 2010, though inmates may still choose the 3-drug protocol.


    Electrocution

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

    Gas Chamber

    Arizona, California, Missouri, Wyoming

    Hanging

    New Hampshire, Washington

    Firing Squad

    Oklahoma, Utah

    Utah no longer offers the firing squad as an option, but would allow it only for inmates who chose this method prior to its elimination.

    Oklahoma offers firing squad only if lethal injection and electrocution are found unconstitutional.

    Alabama Effective 7/1/02, lethal injection will be administered unless the inmate requests electrocution.

    Arizona Authorizes lethal injection for persons sentenced after 11/15/92; those sentenced before that date may select lethal injection or lethal gas.

    Arkansas Authorizes lethal injection for persons whose offense occurred on or after 7/4/83; those who committed their offense before that date may select lethal injection or electrocution.

    California Provides that lethal injection be administered unless the inmate requests lethal gas.

    Colorado Lethal injection is the sole method.

    Connecticut Lethal injection is the sole method.

    Delaware Lethal Injection is the sole method. Hanging was an alternative for those whose offense occurred prior to 6/13/86, but as of July 2003 no inmates on death row were eligible to choose this alternative and Delaware dismantled its gallows.

    Florida Allows prisoners to choose between lethal injection and electrocution

    Georgia Lethal injection is the sole method. (On October 5, 2001, the Georgia Supreme Court held that the electric chair was cruel and unusual punishment and struck down the state's use of the method)

    Idaho Lethal injection is the sole method as of July 1, 2009.

    Indiana Lethal injection is the sole method.

    Kansas Lethal injection is the sole method.

    Kentucky Authorizes lethal injection for those convicted after March 31, 1998; those who committed the offense before that date may select lethal injection or electrocution

    Louisiana Lethal injection is the sole method.

    Maryland Authorizes lethal injection for those who were sentenced for a capital offense on or after 3/25/94; those who were sentenced before that date could select lethal injection or lethal gas.

    Mississippi Lethal injection is the sole method.

    Missouri Authorizes lethal injection or lethal gas; the statute leaves unclear who decides what method to use, the inmate or the Director of the Missouri Department of Corrections.

    Montana Lethal injection is the sole method.

    Nebraska Electrocution was the sole method until the Nebraska Supreme Court ruled the method unconstitutional in February 2008. In May 2009, the Nebraska Legislature approved lethal injection.

    Nevada Lethal injection is the sole method.

    New Hampshire Authorizes hanging only if lethal injection cannot be given.

    New Mexico Lethal injection is the sole method. New Mexico abolished the death penalty in 2009. However, the act wasn't retroactive, leaving two people on the state's death row.

    North Carolina Lethal injection is the sole method.

    Ohio Lethal injection is the sole method. In November 2009, they adoped a one-drug protocol, using only sodium pentathol.

    Oklahoma Authorizes electrocution if lethal injection is ever held to be unconstitutional and firing squad if both lethal injection and electrocution are held unconstitutional.

    Oregon Lethal injection is the sole method.

    Pennsylvania Lethal injection is the sole method.

    South Carolina Allows prisoners to choose between lethal injection and electrocution.

    South Dakota Lethal injection is the sole method.

    Tennessee Authorizes lethal injection for those whose capital offense occurred after December 31, 1998; those who committed the offense before that date may select electrocution by written waiver.

    Texas Lethal injection is the sole method.

    Utah Authorizes firing squad if lethal injection is held unconstitutional. Inmates who selected execution by firing squad prior to May 3, 2004, may still be entitled to execution by that method.

    Virginia Allows prisoners to choose between lethal injection and electrocution

    Washington Provides that lethal injection be administered unless the inmate requests hanging. In March 2010, the state announced an option for inmates to choose a 1-drug protocol.

    Wyoming Authorizes lethal gas if lethal injection is ever held to be unconstitutional.

    U.S. Military Lethal injection is the sole method

    U.S. Government The method of execution of Federal prisoners for offenses under the Violent Crime Control and Law Enforcement Act of 1994 is that of the state in which the conviction took place, pursuant to 18 USC 3596. If the state has no death penalty, the judge must choose a state with the death penalty for carrying out the execution. For offenses under the 1988 Drug Kingpin Law, the method of executions is lethal injection, pursuant to 28 CFR, Part 26.

    (Source: Bureau of Justice Statistics, Capital Punishment 2006; updated by DPIC)

  2. #2
    Eminey1
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    If I had a choice it would be firing squad, buy I am not stupid, cold or evil enough to take another persons life!

  3. #3
    Administrator Moh's Avatar
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    Good for you!

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    Member Member giallohunter's Avatar
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    Quote Originally Posted by Heidi View Post
    U.S. Military Lethal injection is the sole method
    I'm a little surprised that they don't have "Firing Squad" which in my opinion should be the sole method of execution by Military law.

    Anybody who knows when and why the "U.S. Military" changed from "Firing Squad" to "Lethal Injection" and what was the reason in doing so?
    Last edited by giallohunter; 02-23-2013 at 10:14 AM. Reason: Spelling error

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    Admiral CnCP Legend JT's Avatar
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    The military authorities used to follow the federal government's traditional practice of employing the local method of execution. The feds used to hang inmates in states where hanging was the method of execution, fry them in states which used the electric chair, and gas them in states that employed the gas chamber. Likewise, overseas military executions tended to utilise the local execution method if it was available: all of the American servicemen executed in Britain during World War II were hanged. However, when the federal government restarted practicing the death penalty during the Reagan administration, lethal injection was adopted as the sole method. The military seems to have followed the practice (though I don't know the exact date).
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    Banned TheKindExecutioner's Avatar
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    I don't think the gas chamber in MO works so it's really only lethal injection here and they haven't even done that lately!

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    Senior Member Member Dillydust's Avatar
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    I'd have to say, if I had to choose one of these ways to go, It would be firing squad. A group of men all shooting at you, I'm thinking most the time just a guess but like 95% of the time they die instantly? so I find it great that firing squad isn't a way to go any more. Honestly we should gas them all, seems to me that would be the worst. Would be alot like drowning I think hold your breath. Your breath runs out bam your force to breath in cyanide now I think thats what all these heinous criminals need.

  8. #8
    Banned TheKindExecutioner's Avatar
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    A medic once told me a bullet to the back of the head is the best way to kill someone since it's right at the brain stem.

  9. #9
    Junior Member Stranger
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    The chair seems to me to have a bigger fear factor than a lethal injection. Even then some still choose it, like Robert Gleason though

  10. #10
    Administrator Heidi's Avatar
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    A Glance at the 5 Execution Methods Allowed Today

    Five execution methods are legal in various places in the United States: injection, electrocution, gas, firing squad and hanging. Tennessee this week became the first state to allow use of the electric chair in some circumstances regardless of the inmate's wishes, if injection drugs are not available.

    However, all 35 states that have death row inmates, as well as the U.S. military and the federal government, use injection as their primary method of execution, according to the Death Penalty Information Center.

    Deborah Denno, a professor at Fordham Law School who has studied executions for more than two decades, said states have changed execution methods over the years in recurring attempts to make them more humane and to avoid litigation.

    Here is a look at how each of those methods specifically causes death:

    LETHAL INJECTION

    First adopted in 1977 in Oklahoma, lethal injection has become the method of choice in all states that still carry out executions.

    Generally, inmates are strapped to a gurney while needles are inserted into the veins and the drugs are pumped in. This method is often seen as the most humane of the five because the inmates are supposed to be sedated before they die. Inmates, though, have been known to writhe and talk during poorly carried out injections.

    According to Denno, until 2009, all states used a three-drug protocol that included a sedative, a paralytic and then the final, fatal drug to stop the heart. Because of drug shortages and legal challenges that claimed the paralytic drug could mask an inmate's suffering, states are now experimenting with several different protocols.

    Some states are adopting a one-drug method that is essentially a massive overdose of a sedative. Other states are keeping a multi-drug protocol but experimenting with different drugs.

    ELECTROCUTION

    New York developed electrocution as an alternative to hanging — which was often a gruesome public spectacle — and executed the first inmate by electric chair in 1890.

    Prisoners generally are strapped into a chair with electrodes placed on their heads and legs. Saline-soaked sponges are placed between the skin and the electrodes to aid conductivity.

    Denno said the voltage, the number of jolts and the length of time they are administered vary from state to state. Executioners usually give more than one jolt of electricity, to make sure the inmate is dead. Executioners can't give one long, continuous jolt because the person's body could start to burn. Instead they let the body cool down for a few seconds between jolts.

    It is unknown whether the person being electrocuted is rendered unconscious by the shock or is merely paralyzed and unable to yell out.

    Denno said electrocution usually kills by sending the inmate into cardiac arrest, but it could also cause brain death first. "Or it could be both brain death and heart death."

    After Tennessee executed Daryl Holton by electric chair in 2007, a method he chose, state medical examiner Dr. Bruce Levy said Holton died when the electricity stopped his heart. Holton also had burns where the electrodes contacted the skin. And Levy said inmates sometimes suffer broken bones when their muscles clench violently during the shock, but that did not happen with Holton.

    GAS CHAMBER

    Nevada developed the gas chamber in the 1920s as an attempt at a humane method of execution, but Denno said it had "horrific problems" from the start. The original idea was to pump the gas into an inmate's cell while he was sleeping, but there was no way to keep the gas contained, so they built a chamber instead.

    Inmates are strapped into a chair and the chamber is filled with cyanide gas, which kills by asphyxiation. The inmates are fully awake and conscious as they suffocate, Denno said.

    FIRING SQUAD

    This method has been used as recently as 2010 in Utah at the request of a condemned man there.

    Denno said the prisoner is strapped to a chair, as in electrocution and the gas chamber. A cloth target is placed over prisoner's the heart. Several shooters are given real bullets but one or more are given blanks. Assuming the shooters hit their target, the heart ruptures and the prisoner dies quickly from blood loss.

    HANGING

    Before 1890, hanging was the principal method of execution across the country. The prisoner stands over a trap door while a noose is placed around the person's neck, and then the trap door is opened and the prisoner falls.

    By design, the fall breaks the prisoner's neck and kills him or her, but Denno said that has often not been the case. In some cases, prisoners have been decapitated from the fall. In other cases, they have strangled over the course of several minutes.

    http://abcnews.go.com/US/wireStory/g...3849543?page=2
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