<abstract xmlns="http://www.w3.org/1999/xhtml">

<p>This article examines the use of lethal injection from 2010–2020. That period marks the “decomposition” of the standard three-drug protocol and the proliferating use of new drugs or drug combinations in American executions. That development is associated with an increase in the number and type of mishaps encountered during lethal injections. This article describes and analyzes those mishaps and the ways death penalty jurisdictions responded, and adapted, to them. It suggests that the recent history of lethal injection echoes the longer history of the death penalty. When states encountered problems with their previous methods of execution, they first attempted to address these problems by tinkering with their existing methods. When tinkering failed, they adopted allegedly more humane execution methods. When they ran into difficulty with the new methods, state actors scrambled to hide the death penalty from public view. New drugs and drug combinations may have allowed the machinery of death to keep running. New procedures may have given the lethal injection process a veneer of legitimacy. But none of these recent changes has resolved its fate or repaired its vexing problems.</p>
</abstract>

This article examines the use of lethal injection from 2010–2020. That period marks the “decomposition” of the standard three-drug protocol and the proliferating use of new drugs or drug combinations in American executions. That development is associated with an increase in the number and type of mishaps encountered during lethal injections. This article describes and analyzes those mishaps and the ways death penalty jurisdictions responded, and adapted, to them. It suggests that the recent history of lethal injection echoes the longer history of the death penalty. When states encountered problems with their previous methods of execution, they first attempted to address these problems by tinkering with their existing methods. When tinkering failed, they adopted allegedly more humane execution methods. When they ran into difficulty with the new methods, state actors scrambled to hide the death penalty from public view. New drugs and drug combinations may have allowed the machinery of death to keep running. New procedures may have given the lethal injection process a veneer of legitimacy. But none of these recent changes has resolved its fate or repaired its vexing problems.

The Fate of Lethal Injection: Decomposition of the Paradigm and Its Consequences

British Journal of American Legal Studies

This work is licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives 3.0 License.

{"article-title":"The Fate of Lethal Injection: Decomposition of the Paradigm and Its Consequences"}

This article examines the use of lethal injection from 2010–2020. That period marks the “decomposition” of the standard three-drug protocol and the...

Classification	Characteristics	Examples
Barbiturate combination	Sodium thiopental or pentobarbital in combination with a paralytic and a heart-stopper	Sodium thiopental, pancuronium bromide, and potassium chloride (traditional three-drug protocol)Pentobarbital, rocuronium bromide, and potassium chloride
Barbiturate overdose	Sodium thiopental or pentobarbital on their own	Sodium thiopental alonePentobarbital alone
Sedative combination	Midazolam, etomidate, or diazepam in combination with other drugs	Midazolam and hydromorphoneEtomidate, vecuronium bromide, and potassium acetate

	One-drug	Three-drug
Sodium thiopental	Ohio, Washington	Texas, Louisiana, Oklahoma, Florida, Mississippi, Virginia, Alabama, Georgia, Arizona
Pentobarbital	Ohio, Arizona, Idaho, Texas, South Dakota, Georgia, Missouri	Oklahoma, Texas, South Carolina, Mississippi, Alabama, Arizona, Georgia, Delaware, Virginia, Florida, Idaho

The Fate of Lethal Injection: Decomposition of the Paradigm and Its Consequences

Publicado en línea: 16 jun 2022

Páginas: 81 - 111

DOI: https://doi.org/10.2478/bjals-2022-0001

Palabras clave
death penalty, lethal injection, execution methods, botched executions

© 2022 Austin Sarat et al., published by Sciendo

This work is licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives 3.0 License.

Figure 1

Figure 2

Figure 3

Figure 4

Figure 5

Classification of lethal injection drug protocols.

Drug protocols used between 2010 and 2013.

The Fate of Lethal Injection: Decomposition of the Paradigm and Its Consequences

Publicado en línea: 16 jun 2022

Páginas: 81 - 111

DOI: https://doi.org/10.2478/bjals-2022-0001

Palabras clavedeath penalty, lethal injection, execution methods, botched executions

© 2022 Austin Sarat et al., published by Sciendo

This work is licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives 3.0 License.

Figure 1

Figure 2

Figure 3

Figure 4

Figure 5

Classification of lethal injection drug protocols.

Drug protocols used between 2010 and 2013.

Palabras clave
death penalty, lethal injection, execution methods, botched executions