Lethal injection

Lethal injection 

First developed in the US in 1977, but now used in China and parts of Africa and Asia, the lethal injection is one of the most common methods of execution still used today. Condemned people are restrained and usually injected with a barbiturate, paralytic and potassium solution to cause them to fall unconscious, stop their breathing and cause a heart arrhythmia, killing them.

First, the inmate is secured, strip-searched and monitored in the execution room. They are then usually plied with midazolam, an anaesthetic intended to render them unconscious. Another has saline to flush it back out of the IV line. A dose is expected to take up to two minutes to kick in.

After five, officials check the patient is unconscious before applying Bromide or equivalent. An anaesthesiologist told CNN if the inmate is not unconscious at this stage, the injection will 'feel like they're drowning'.

The condemned then received a shot intended to paralyse them, followed by more saline. This stops them from moving - but also means they cannot communicate distress. Bromide would likely stop breathing.

After another couple of minutes, potassium chloride is usually injected to stop the heart, again with saline. Conscious, an inmate might feel like their arm is on fire, an expert told CNN. Within a minute, this causes cardiac arrest and the death of the inmate.

The method is supposed to be a more 'humane' means of execution but has blatant flaws. Miscalculations can leave patients conscious for an excruciating death. It took Joseph Lewis Clark nearly 90 minutes to die in 2006, and Joseph Wood required a two hour procedure and as many as 15 shots before he died.

The medical nature of the procedure has caused some difficulty, requiring medical professionals to administer the drugs who are sworn to protect human life, creating a conflict of interest. Nonetheless, firms have looked to get around the issues of a three-part injection with a simplified single shot.

Between 1976 and 2023, 1,392 executions in the US were carried out by lethal injection. This makes it by far the most common mean of capital punishment, with 163 electrocutions, 11 killed in gas chambers, three hanged and three executed by firing squad.

Twenty-seven states had provisions for lethal injection as of late 2023.