Guide Note

Lethal injection is a method of execution used in the United States - although it can also refer to a method of euthanasia or suicide. It is performed by injecting a person with fatal doses of poisonous drugs to cause death. This page focuses on the application of lethal injection as a form of capital punishment.

Fast Facts

1. The United States was the first country to use a lethal injection
2. The humaneness of lethal injection has been debated
3. 37 states use lethal injection to execute murderers
4. 36 states use a triple cocktail that first sedates the prisoner, then paralyzes his lungs, and finally stops his heart
5. 1997: China adopts lethal injection as method of execution
6. Lethal injection is the most common execution method in the United States
7. All executions in 2005 were performed by lethal injection

Lethal injection gained popularity as a method of execution during the 20th century as other methods—such as firing squads, hanging, decaptication, etc.—were increasingly seen as inhumane.

In the US, a sequence of 3 injections is involved. First, the executioner injects 5g Pentothol (sodium thiopental) to induce a coma. The second shot is of 100mg Pavulon (pancuronium bromide) and causes paralysis. The final injection is 100 mEq potassium chloride which stops the heart and causes death.

Despite being seen as the most "humane" option, lethal injection has many critics. Studies suggest that some prisoners are inadequately sedated and suffocate in agony. In the United States, an informal moratorium was announced on lethal injection executions in September 2007. States feared that they could challenged on a constitutional level for imposing "cruel and unusual punishment" on convicts.

However, on April 14, 2008, the Supreme Court decided lethal injection does not violate the constitution's ban on "cruel and unusual punishment." Virginia's governor immediately authorized that previously postponed executions resume.