Who Uses Lethal Injection?
Lethal injection is the world's newest method of execution, and is quickly becoming the most common one. In 1982, the United States became the first country to use lethal injection as a means of carrying out capital punishment.
Lethal Injection in the United States
Lethal injection was originally proposed as a means of execution in 1888 in New York, but the state chose electrocution instead. In 1977, Oklahoma became the first state to adopt lethal-injection legislation. Five years later, Texas performed the first execution by lethal injection.
Of the 38 U.S. states that have a death penalty, 34 use lethal injection as the primary form of execution. The U.S. federal government and the U.S. military also use lethal injection. In 2004, according to the U.S. Department of Justice, 59 people were executed in the United States, and all but one of those died by lethal injection. The number of states authorizing lethal injection increased from 27 in 1994 to 37 in 2004.
 This map shows the various types of execution methods used in the United States. |
U.S. executions were briefly halted in 1972 following the ruling of the U.S. Supreme Court on the case of Furman v. Georgia. The justices decided that executions were cruel and unusual punishment and therefore a violation of the Eighth Amendment of the U.S. Constitution. In 1976, the Court reversed this decision in the case of Gregg v. Georgia. To address the "cruel and usual punishment" objections, states began looking for a more humane way of carrying out the death penalty, lethal injection being one of the methods they came up with.
Lethal Injection Outside the United States
As of 2001, approximately 120 countries allow for some form of capital punishment. However, it should be noted that about 20 of these countries have not performed an execution in the last 10 years or more, according to Amnesty International. Only a handful of these countries have begun to use lethal injection as an execution method.
In 1997, China became the second country to use lethal injection to carry out an execution, 15 years after the first U.S. execution of this type. Three other countries, including Guatemala, the Philippines and Taiwan, also provide for execution by lethal injection.
Information about lethal-injection executions in China is hard to obtain, and the process by which they are carried out is unclear. Prior to 1997, China's main form of execution was shooting. According to a 1998 report from Amnesty International, the Chinese press reported 24 lethal-injection executions in that year, but the exact number is unknown.
While China was the first non-U.S. government to officially perform a lethal-injection execution, Taiwan was the first government outside of the United States to legislate lethal injection as a form of execution. However, Taiwan has yet to execute anyone by this method. Executions in Taiwan continue to be carried out by shooting.
In the Philippines, the death penalty was reinstated in 1993 after a six-year hiatus. The death penalty was brought back because of a rising crime rate. The country provides for the death penalty in cases of murder, rape, drug trafficking, kidnapping and arson, among other crimes. Under certain circumstances, the death penalty is a mandatory punishment.
In 1996, the Filipino government passed legislation allowing for executions by lethal injection. Soon after, a lethal-injection chamber was built at the National Penitentiary at Muntinlupa. The building consists of two, 60-foot metal cargo containers divided into five rooms. One room serves as the death chamber, and the other four are used by technicians, government officials, spiritual advisors and witnesses The Philippines performed its first lethal-injection execution in February 1999. It was the first Filipino execution since 1976.
Guatemalan law calls for the death penalty for those convicted of aggravated homicide of the country's president or vice president, killing a member of one's immediate family, killing a kidnap victim or raping a girl under the age of 10. A death sentence can be imposed only when all appeals have been exhausted. Guatemala carried out its first execution by lethal injection on February 10, 1998.
In Guatemala, once a death sentence is imposed, a judge selects a person to act as the executioner. On the day of the execution, much like in the United States, the prisoner is restrained to a gurney. In an adjacent room, the judge gives a signal to the executioner to begin. According to the law, an electronic lethal-injection machine is used to perform the injection of three drugs. Once the lethal injection has been administered, a forensic doctor examines the prisoner to declare the person dead. When the proceedings are over, the government either buries the body or turns it over to the person's family if they have requested to handle the burial themselves.
In October 2003, Thailand became the next country to adopt lethal injection as its main form of execution. Its first lethal injection executions were carried out in December 2003, when four men convicted of drug trafficking and murder were put to death.
