Why does the US return to the firing squad to apply the death penalty

Why the US is returning to the firing squad to apply the death penalty - Author, Madeline Halpert - Publication Date - Reading Time: 9 min Warning: this story contains disturbing descriptions of executions. The use of the death penalty in the United States is once again in focus after the US Secretary of Defense, Pete Hegseth, announced that the army would live stream the firing squad execution of Nidal Hasan, something President Donald Trump later dismissed due to public rejection. The former military psychiatrist shot and killed 13 unarmed US soldiers at Fort Hood military base in Texas in 2009. His execution would be the first time the US military has used a firing squad since 1945, a method that several states already authorize for applying the death penalty. And the announcement comes shortly after the failed lethal injection execution of Christa Pike, a woman convicted for the murder of a classmate. According to her lawyers, Pike was transferred to the hospital and, ten days later, released and sent to prison after recovering from the failed attempt. In light of growing concern over botched executions and renewed federal support for the death penalty, the United States has introduced both new and old methods of execution, such as firing squads, the electric chair, and the gas chamber. Failed Executions The vast majority of executions in the United States have been carried out by lethal injection since they were first introduced in Texas in 1982. The Death Penalty Information Center, a non-profit group of experts that does not take a stance on capital punishment, states that there have been 64 botched executions in the last 50 years, including 51 failed lethal injections, out of a total of 1,683 executions. The difficulty of carrying out these executions and the outrage they provoke, which some consider inhumane treatment, have led authorities to consider alternative methods for killing people. However, medical experts and those who study executions assert that all the methods used by the United States to kill people can cause intense pain, especially when performed incorrectly. "There is always a possibility of error when human beings are involved in executions," said Robin Maher, executive director of the Death Penalty Information Center. Several medical organizations, including the national associations of physicians and nurses, also prohibit their members from participating in executions. The American Medical Association, which represents physicians in the US, states that it is "a profession dedicated to preserving life when there is hope of doing so" and that participating in any way in executions is contrary to its oath. The "myth" of peaceful lethal injections Lethal injection, first used in Texas in 1982, is now the most common method of execution in the United States, and many states have adopted it as the default method. Dr. Joel Zivot, a professor of anesthesiology and surgery based in Atlanta, Georgia, said that the states resorted to lethal injection because, from the outside, it seemed like a more peaceful method of execution. "That was a myth," he said. Dr. Zivot explained that, on occasion, the injection of these drugs can cause pulmonary edema, a condition in which the lungs fill with fluid, which can cause a painful feeling of suffocation. "It is a terrifying way to die: drowning," he said. On other occasions, people suffer from medical conditions, like Pike, who suffered from thrombocytopenia and other health problems that her lawyers warned about, which can complicate the execution and make it more painful. During Pike's failed execution, "she could be heard crying, groaning, and breathing with difficulty throughout the procedure," her lawyers said. According to Maher, there are numerous reasons why so many lethal injections have gone wrong, but some of the same factors persist. "Executions often go wrong because the training of the personnel is inadequate, because the drugs are degraded, expired, or improperly stored, or because the states are experimenting with different combinations of drugs that have never been used before," Maher said. In most cases, the public has little information about the people administering the lethal injection, as the states do not usually reveal the training they have received. "We have discovered that, in many cases, and unfortunately after a botched execution, the cause was the lack of experience and training of the personnel in charge of the execution," said Maher. The drugs for lethal injections are also difficult to obtain because many pharmaceutical companies do not want to sell them to prisons for that use, as they were developed for life-saving purposes. Nitrogen methods In light of many of these problems, some states have resorted to a new and controversial method of execution: nitrogen gas. Alabama and Louisiana are the first states to have carried out executions with nitrogen gas, although three other states (Arkansas, Mississippi, and Oklahoma) also permit it. Two years ago, Alabama used nitrogen gas to execute Kenneth Eugene Smith after a failed attempt to kill him by lethal injection in 2022. During the execution, which lasted 25 minutes, Smith violently twisted in the gurney while the gas was administered, according to a witness to the BBC at the time. The method consists of forcing the prisoner to breathe pure nitrogen gas until asphyxiation. Dr. Zivot stated that people who inhale the gas sometimes suffer convulsions. Alabama has executed seven people using nitrogen gas since it introduced this method in January 2024. "Each time it was a horrifying spectacle of writhing, movements, convulsions," said Dr. Zivot. A Return to the Electric Chair While some states have explored new methods, others have reverted to authorizing some of the first ways US officials used to execute people. To this year, nine states have approved execution by electric chair, which is the default method in South Carolina. Electrocution "has a terrible history of botched executions," said Maher, and the errors in these executions are one of the reasons states introduced lethal injections in the first place. In 1997, Pedro Medina's head burned while being executed on the electric chair in Florida. "A solid flame covered his entire head, from side to side. I had the impression that someone was being burned alive," said his lawyer, Mike Minerva, according to the Los Angeles Times. Firing squads, a method previously used as punishment in the military and wartime, have also proven to be susceptible to human error. Mikahl Mahdi was executed last year by a firing squad of three people after confessing to murdering an out-of-service police officer in 2004. However, his lawyers claim that his death was prolonged because the bullets did not reach his heart and instead hit his liver and other organs. In July, Idaho became the first state to use the firing squad as the main method of execution after the problems that arose with lethal injections. Mississippi, Oklahoma, Utah, and South Carolina also authorize this method of execution. Alonzo Lunsford, a former US army sergeant who survived Hasan's seven shots in the Fort Hood attack, told the BBC that the firing squad was an "appropriate" method to end his life, as lethal injection and the gas chamber would be "a favor for him." The gallows was the main method of execution in the United States until the 1890s, and several Asian countries, such as Japan and Singapore, still use it. However, in the United States, no state authorizes the gallows due to its terrible history, said Maher. "The gallows has a terrible association with racial violence and lynchings in the states," he said. "That is why no state uses the gallows or has authorized its use." The Trump Factor Trump, a proponent of the death penalty, reinstated it at the federal level when he returned to office in 2025, after the Biden administration imposed a moratorium on federal executions in 2021. "Capital punishment is an essential tool to deter and punish those who commit the most atrocious crimes and acts of lethal violence against American citizens," his office wrote in an executive order. Maher stated that there has been "considerable activity" in state legislatures to approve and reauthorize other methods of execution since Trump began to express his enthusiasm for the death penalty. Trump has called for the extension of the death penalty to punish major drug traffickers, human traffickers, and those who murder police officers. In the last 50 years, all prisoners sentenced to death were found guilty of murder, although the death penalty was also applied to rape offenses. When journalists asked him if the failed lethal injection of Pike should drive changes in the death penalty, Trump did not directly answer the question, adding that the method of execution "should not be too difficult." This article was originally written in English and we used an artificial intelligence tool to translate it. A BBC journalist reviewed the text before its publication. 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