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Society and Culture > Crime & Law Enforcement > Incarceration and Capital Punishment

Methods of Execution Used in Capital Punishment

Find information about each U.S. state's stance on capital punishment and method of execution where applicable.

State	Method
Alabama	Lethal injection or electrocution
Alaska	No death penalty
Arizona¹	Lethal injection or gas
Arkansas²	Lethal injection or electrocution
California	Lethal injection or gas
Colorado	Lethal injection
Connecticut	Lethal injection
Delaware	Lethal injection
District of Columbia	No death penalty
Florida	Lethal injection or electrocution
Georgia	Lethal injection
Hawaii	No death penalty
Idaho	Lethal injection or firing squad
Illinois	Lethal injection
Indiana	Lethal injection
Iowa	No death penalty
Kansas	Lethal injection
Kentucky³	Lethal injection or electrocution
Louisiana	Lethal injection
Maine	No death penalty
Maryland⁴	Lethal injection or gas
Massachusetts	No death penalty
Michigan	No death penalty
Minnesota	No death penalty
Mississippi	Lethal injection
Missouri	Lethal injection or gas
Montana	Lethal injection
Nebraska	Electrocution
Nevada	Lethal injection
New Hampshire⁵	Lethal injection or hanging
New Jersey	Lethal injection
New Mexico	Lethal injection
New York	Lethal injection
North Carolina	Lethal injection
North Dakota	No death penalty
Ohio	Lethal injection
Oklahoma⁶	Lethal injection, electrocution, or firing squad
Oregon	Lethal injection
Pennsylvania	Lethal injection
Rhode Island	No death penalty
South Carolina	Lethal injection or electrocution
South Dakota	Lethal injection
Tennessee⁷	Lethal injection or electrocution
Texas	Lethal injection
Utah	Lethal injection
Vermont	No death penalty
Virginia	Lethal injection or electrocution
Washington	Lethal injection or hanging
West Virginia	No death penalty
Wisconsin	No death penalty
Wyoming⁸	Lethal injection or gas
Federal system⁹	Lethal injection

American Samoa	No death penalty
Guam	No death penalty
Puerto Rico	No death penalty
Virgin Islands	No death penalty

NOTE: As of March 1, 2005, the Supreme Court ruled that the Constitution bars capital punishment for crimes committed before the age of 18.

1. For those sentenced after 11/15/92, only lethal injection is authorized.

2. For those whose capital offense occurred on or after 7/4/83, only lethal injection is authorized.

3. For those sentenced on or after 3/31/98, only lethal injection is authorized.

4. For those sentenced on or after 3/25/94, only lethal injection is authorized.

5. Hanging is authorized only if lethal injection cannot be given.

6. Electrocution is authorized if lethal injection is ever held to be unconstitutional, and firing squad if both lethal injection and electrocution are held unconstitutional.

7. For those whose capital offense occurred after 12/31/98, only lethal injection is authorized.

8. Lethal gas is authorized if lethal injection is ever held to be unconstitutional.

9. For offenses under the Violent Crime Control and Law Enforcement Act of 1994, the method is that of the state in which the conviction took place.

Source: Capital Punishment, 2004, U.S. Bureau of Justice Statistics, and the Death Penalty Information Center, updated 2007.

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The machinery of death; Capital punishment.(Delaying executions) (The Economist (US))

Cause for a pause; Capital punishment.(Lethal-injection executions reviewed) (The Economist (US))

The Execution Protocol: Inside America's Capital Punishment Industry. (Corrections Today)

The death penalty debate: after a seven-month break, executions have resumed in the U.S.--and so has the debate over capital punishment itself.(NATIONAL) (New York Times Upfront)

Supreme Court justices weigh case that questions method of lethal injection in executions.(NATIONAL REPORT)(Brief article) (Jet)

Methods of execution and their effect on the use of the death penalty in the United States.(The Lethal Injection Debate: Law and Science) (Fordham Urban Law Journal)

Physician Involvement in Capital Punishment: Simplifying a Complex Calculus (Mayo Clinic Proceedings)

The white coat passes like a shadow in the execution chambers. (physician participation in executions)(Technology & Society)(Column) (The Humanist)

Capital punishment and homicide: sociological realities and econometric illusions: does exciting murderers cut the homicide rate or not? Comparative studies show there is no effect. Econometric models, in contrast, show a mixture of results. Why the difference? And which is the more reliable method?.(Cover Story) (Skeptical Inquirer)

The death penalty debate: the United States is one of the few industrialized nations that still uses capital punishment. Under increasing scrutiny by the courts, it continues to stir strong feelings on both sides.(Cover story) (New York Times Upfront)

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