Global InformationList of people executed by lethal injection information
Lethal injection is the practice of injecting one or more drugs into a person by a government for the express purpose of causing immediate death. While Nazi Germany was known to execute enemies of the state using an injection of lethal drugs, the first country to legalize and formally implement what is referred to today as lethal injection was the United States. The state of Texas adopted it as its form on capital punishment in 1977 and executed the first person by it, Charles Brooks Jr., in 1982.[1] The practice was subsequently adopted by the other U.S. states using capital punishment.[2] As of 2017, the method is being used by 31 U.S. states, as well as by their federal government and military.[3]
Lethal injection was also adopted as a method of execution by Guatemala in 1996, China in 1997, the Philippines in 1999, Thailand in 2003, Taiwan in 2005, Vietnam in 2013,[4] the Maldives in 2014[5] and Nigeria in 2015.[6] The Philippines abolished the death penalty in 2006.[7] While the death penalty still exists in the Maldives and Guatemala, no executions have been carried out there since 1954 and 2000 respectively.[8] Taiwan has never actually used the method, instead carrying out all executions by single gunshot.[9]
The United States and China are the two biggest users of this method of execution. The U.S. had executed 1,283 people via lethal injection as of April 2017.[10] The number of people executed annually in China is thought to surpass all other countries combined, though the actual number is a state secret,[11] and the percentage of people killed via lethal injection and the other method of execution used there, firing squad, is also unclear.[12] This alphabetical list features notable cases up to March 2024, and only those where lethal injection can be reliably sourced to be the method of execution. The criterion for notability is either an article on the individual, or the crime they were executed for, in the English Wikipedia. This inevitably causes a bias towards U.S. executions, as notable individuals in other countries such as Thailand and Vietnam may only have articles in their own language. A complete list of all executions in the United States can be found here.
Lethal injection was proposed and adopted on the grounds it was more humane than the methods of execution in place at the time, such as the electric chair and gas chamber.[2] Opponents of lethal injection reject this argument, noting multiple cases where executions have been either painful, prolonged, or both.[13][14][15] According to the Death Penalty Information Center, lethal injections have the highest rate of botched executions of any method used in the US, with 7.12% of executions using this method between 1982 and 2010 considered to have not gone according to plan.[16][17] A study published in The Lancet in 2005 found that in 43% of cases of lethal injection, the blood level of hypnotics was insufficient to guarantee unconsciousness.[18] However, the Supreme Court of the United States ruled 7–2 in 2008 (Baze v. Rees) and 5–4 in 2015 (Glossip v. Gross) that lethal injection does not constitute cruel and unusual punishment.[19]
- ^ Groner JI (2002). "Lethal injection: a stain on the face of medicine". BMJ. 325 (7371): 1026–8. doi:10.1136/bmj.325.7371.1026. PMC 1124498. PMID 12411367.
- ^ a b Fellner, Jamie; Tofte, Sarah (April 2006). So Long as They Die: Lethal Injections in the United States. Vol. 18. Human Rights Watch.
- ^ "States and Capital Punishment". National Conference of State Legislatures. Archived from the original on April 1, 2016. Retrieved July 23, 2017.
- ^ Kim, Jeanne (May 7, 2014). "These are the countries still using lethal injection to kill people". Public Radio International. Archived from the original on April 30, 2017. Retrieved April 30, 2017.
- ^ "Maldives". Death Penalty Database. Archived from the original on April 17, 2020.
- ^ Nwachukwu, J.B. (April 26, 2017). "Death penalty in Nigeria: Constitutional but unconventional". Business Day. Archived from the original on April 26, 2017.
- ^ "In the know: Death penalty". Philippine Daily Inquirer. 17 May 2016. Archived from the original on December 2, 2017.
- ^ "Death Penalty-Guatemala: Green Light for Executions". Inter Press Service. February 13, 2008. Archived from the original on February 21, 2013. Retrieved July 17, 2017.
- ^ "Taiwan". Death Penalty Database. Archived from the original on April 17, 2020.
- ^ Scutti, Susan (April 21, 2017). "FDA: Texas lethal injection drugs must be destroyed or exported". CNN. Archived from the original on July 30, 2017. Retrieved July 30, 2017.
- ^ Hogg, Chris (February 25, 2011). "China ends death penalty for 13 economic crimes". BBC News. Archived from the original on July 22, 2017. Retrieved July 22, 2017.
- ^ "Reducing Death Penalty Crimes in China More Symbol Than Substance" (PDF). Dialogue (41). Dui Hua Foundation: 6. 2010. Archived from the original (PDF) on 2015-10-17. Retrieved 2017-07-22.
- ^ Bean, Matt (June 8, 2001). "Lethal injection—the humane alternative?". Court-TV. Archived from the original on June 25, 2001. Retrieved June 25, 2001.
- ^ Fretland, Katie (April 30, 2014). "Botched Oklahoma execution leaves inmate writhing on gurney". The Guardian. Archived from the original on April 30, 2014. Retrieved July 18, 2017.
- ^ Kantele, Franco; Welsh-Huggins, Andrew (January 18, 2014). "Unclear future for executions after Ohio's longest". Connecticut Post. Archived from the original on January 19, 2014. Retrieved July 18, 2017.
- ^ "Botched Executions". Death Penalty Information Centre. Archived from the original on June 10, 2017. Retrieved July 17, 2017.
- ^ Sarat, Austin (April 30, 2014). Gruesome Spectacles: Botched Executions and America's Death Penalty. Stanford University Press. p. 177. ISBN 978-0804791724.
- ^ Van Norman, Gail A (2011). Physician participation in executions. Cambridge University Press. p. 287. ISBN 978-0511855139.
- ^ Liptak, Adam (June 29, 2015). "Supreme Court Allows Use of Execution Drug". The New York Times. p. A1. Archived from the original on July 17, 2017. Retrieved July 17, 2017.