Death by Bullet: Why does Idaho want to bring back firing squads for executing prisoners?

The United States’ Idaho is set to bring back firing squads to execute inmates on death row. On Monday (20 March), lawmakers in the state passed a bill with a veto-proof majority to allow firing squads to carry out capital punishment. This method will be used only if drugs required for lethal injections are not available, reported Associated Press (AP).  Currently, lethal injection is the only legal method of capital punishment in Idaho, noted Los Angeles Times. The bill will now be forwarded to Idaho Governor Brad Little – who has earlier supported the death penalty – for signature. Why does Idaho want firing squads as another method of execution and why is this controversial? Let’s take a look. Methods of capital punishment in the US As many as 27 states across the US still have the death penalty. These include Alabama, Arizona, Arkansas, California, Florida, Georgia, Idaho, Indiana, Kansas, Kentucky. Louisiana, Mississippi, Missouri, Montana, Nebraska, Nevada, North Carolina, Ohio, Oklahoma, Oregon, Pennsylvania, South Carolina, South Dakota, Tennessee, Texas, Utah and Wyoming, reported the Independent. Until the 1890s, hanging was the most commonly used method of execution in America. Then, the electric chair became a popular form of capital punishment. In 1982, Texas became the first state in the US to carry out an execution by lethal injection. This soon replaced the electric chair method throughout the country. “We’ve gone from stoning to crucifixion, to quartering, to burning people at the stake, to hanging,” Texas legislator Ben Z Grant said to his colleagues in 1977, as per The Guardian. While making a case for lethal injections, he asked them to shun the electric chair, which “has become a circus sideshow” and “has a way of making heroes out of those being punished”. Troubles with lethal injection Since states in the US adopted lethal injection, they have encountered several issues with this form of execution, including a shortage of drugs and difficulty in finding usable veins. Some states are also facing difficulties in procuring drugs for lethal injection after pharmaceutical companies raised objections, blocking their products from being used in executions.

As per experts lethal injection accounts for the highest rate of botched executions, reported Insider.

In 2014, an Oklahoma prisoner Clayton Lockett writhed, groaned and convulsed for over 40 minutes after he was administered lethal injection drugs. He was declared dead 43 minutes after getting the injection. In 2022, attorneys for 28 death row inmates in Oklahoma argued that the first drug – sedative midazolam – used in the three-drug lethal injection cocktail does not dull the pain felt by inmates and creates a risk of severe pain and suffering, reported AP. The federal judge ruled in favour of the method, saying it was constitutional. Earlier in 2021, John Marion Grant, an inmate in Oklahoma, had vomited in the chairs and convulsed for nearly 15 minutes after he was administered midazolam. He was declared dead later. [caption id=“attachment_12327812” align=“alignnone” width=“640”] Graphic: Pranay Bhardwaj[/caption] In November 2022, an execution was called off in Alabama after prison officials failed to find a suitable vein to inject the lethal drugs. Last December, Gerald Pizzuto Jr got temporary relief after the Idaho Department of Correction cancelled his execution, saying they could not get the required chemicals. 66-year-old Pizzuto, who suffers from terminal bladder cancer, has been on death row for 40 years after being convicted in the 1985 murders of two gold prospectors. His execution has now been scheduled for 23 March. However, in a press release on 24 February, the Department of Correction said it is “not in possession of the chemicals necessary to carry out an execution by lethal injection”. The department added that “efforts to lawfully source chemicals are ongoing”, reported Insider. According to Death Penalty Information Center, seven of the 20 lethal injection execution attempts in 2022 were botched, marked by “visibly problematic” procedures, reported Los Angeles Times. ALSO READ: More mass shootings than days of the year: The grim reality of gun violence in the US Why does Idaho want firing squads? If the bill becomes a law, Idaho will become the fifth state in the US to employ firing squads for capital punishment. So far, Mississippi, Utah, Oklahoma and South Carolina allow firing squads if an alternative execution method is unavailable, as per Death Penalty Information Center. But in South Carolina, the firing squad law is on hold following a lawsuit. While Idaho has never carried out a death penalty by firing squads, the method was once legal in the state before being banned in 2009, reported Los Angeles Times.

In the last 50 years, only three people have been executed by firing squad, all of them in Utah, with the latest in 2010.

A bill seeking firing squads for executions in Idaho was introduced last month by state Republican Representative Bruce Skaug who used the example of Pizzuto who could not be executed late last year due to a lack of lethal injection drugs. Skaug had said: “This is a rule of law issue”. “Our criminal system should work, and our penalty should be exacted. When promised and deserved, the death penalty should be duly invoked”, the Republican lawmaker was quoted as saying by Los Angeles Times. [caption id=“attachment_12327732” align=“alignnone” width=“640”] As many as 27 states across the US grant the death penalty. AP (Representational Image)[/caption] Speaking in favour of reintroducing firing squads in Idaho, Skaug had said he believed it to be a “more humane” execution method. “There can be about 10 seconds of extreme pain before death at times, but I find it to be, in my personal view, more humane than lethal injection,” he had said, according to AP. Notably, in 2022, two Oklahoma prisoners on death row sought a firing squad over lethal injection to carry out the execution. Their attorney said then, “While it may be gruesome to look at, we all agree it will be quicker.” During a Senate debate this Monday, Senator Doug Ricks, a co-sponsor of the bill, argued, “This is not talking about the merits of whether we should have the death penalty or not”. “This is about justice. I do think this a humane way to do it”, Ricks said, as per USA Today. “All of these other, older methods are being tossed around, not used much, but still: It’s sort of out of desperation. To carry out executions, you need a method,” Richard Dieter, interim executive director of the Death Penalty Information Center, told Los Angeles Times. “The method is in flux right now.” Currently, eight inmates, including Pizzuto, are on death row in Idaho. Why are firing squads controversial? Experts say the emergence of firing squads is controversial, especially amid a rise in mass shootings and a nationwide debate about gun violence in the US . Representative Lauren Necochea, a Democrat had spoken against when the bill was brought forward last month, saying she had a “visceral reaction” to the idea. She also said she was “increasingly uncomfortable” with capital punishment. “I would push back against the justification for bringing back the firing squad now as expediency in carrying out death sentences,” Necochea said then, as per Los Angeles Times. “When the stakes are so high, proceeding judiciously and slowly are more appropriate.” Dieter of Death Penalty Information Center told USA Today on Monday that Idaho’s actions are a step backward and send a “brutal message”. He said the firing squad “reverts to older methods of execution” which are seen as cruel and unusual punishment. “I think this is an effort by Idaho to put pressure on pharmaceutical companies and the medical community to provide the drugs and expertise they need to carry out executions with lethal injections,” Dieter told USA Today.  He also said Idaho’s decision would likely be challenged in court. Last April, Corinna Lain, a law professor at the University of Richmond, told The Guardian: “I think there is a deep-seated need to differentiate state killing from the actions of the person being put to death”. “The firing squad is so explicitly violent … The state is doing what murderers do.” With inputs from agencies Read all the  Latest News ,  Trending News ,  Cricket News ,  Bollywood News , India News  and  Entertainment News  here. Follow us on  Facebook ,  Twitter  and  Instagram .