Which states enforce the death penalty

The latest execution took place in Missouri just two days ago when Ernest Lee Johnson was executed by lethal injection at p. Across the 27 states that still use capital punishment, lethal injection is by far the most common method. But many pharmaceutical companies refuse to supply the required drugs, which has led to states authorising deaths that are potentially far less humane.

This has been the case in South Carolina, which in May instituted a law requiring death row inmates to choose between being put to death by electric chair or firing squad. Electrocution takes place in eight states and gas chambers are authorised in seven. Three states — Delaware, New Hampshire, and Washington — still permit hanging. The frequency of people put to death is also markedly different across the country. Texas has put people to death since , according to the Death Penalty Information Center.

Virginia comes in at a distant second, with executions in that time period, followed by Oklahoma with , Florida with 99, and Missouri with Exacerbating the inconsistency, federal death penalties may or may not be carried out at all, depending on the views of the president or attorney general of the time. Public anger about previous wrongful executions led to their suspension in and they were abolished in Technically, the death penalty could still be imposed for offences including treason , violent piracy or certain military crimes until , but no executions took place.

US states that have the death penalty use lethal injection as their primary method of execution, but protocols differ from state to state. The three-drug protocol uses an anaesthetic or sedative, usually followed by pancuronium bromide and potassium chloride. Florida convict Mark Asay was executed on August 24, , with a mix using the anaesthetic etomidate for the first time. We pay for your stories! Do you have a story for The Sun Online news team?

Email us at tips the-sun. You can WhatsApp us on Arizona , , and impose a sentence of death Hurst v. Florida, State courts have also had an impact. Supreme Court decision Hurst v. The Delaware attorney general announced that he will not appeal the decision of the state court and legislation would be required to reinstate capital punishment in the state. The Washington Supreme Court also recently struck down the state's death penalty on October 11, This was the fourth time the court has ruled the state's capital punishment law unconstitutional, calling it "invalid because it is imposed in an arbitrary and racially biased manner.

Create Account. States and Capital Punishment. Texas Crim. Significant Litigation Over the past decade, several U. Atkins v. Virginia Ring v. Arizona Roper v. Simmons Kennedy v. Louisiana Baze v. Rees Glossip v.