Authorized Methods of Execution by Method
(click the state to get specific information about the methods authorized)
Method # of executions by method since 1976 # of states authorizing method Jurisdictions that Authorize
Lethal Injection 885
37* states + U.S. Military and U.S. Gov't Alabama, Arizona, Arkansas, California, Colorado,Connecticut, Delaware, Florida, Georgia, Idaho, Illinois, Indiana, Kansas, Kentucky, Louisiana, Maryland, Mississippi, Missouri, Montana, Nevada, New Hampshire, New Jersey, New Mexico, New York*, North Carolina, Ohio, Oklahoma, Oregon, Pennsylvania, South Carolina, South Dakota, Tennessee, Texas, Utah, Virginia, Washington, Wyoming, U.S. Military, U.S. Government

* New York's death penalty was declared unconstitutional on June 24, 2004.

Electrocution 153 10 states (Nebraska is the only state that requires electrocution) Alabama, Arkansas, Florida, [Illinois], Kentucky, Nebraska, [Oklahoma], South Carolina, Tennessee, Virginia
Gas Chamber 11 5 states (all have lethal injection as an alternative method) Arizona, California, Maryland, Missouri, [Wyoming]
Hanging 3 2 states (all have lethal injection as an alternative method) New Hampshire, Washington
Firing Squad 2 2* states (all have lethal injection as an alternative method) Idaho, [Oklahoma], Utah**
** Utah offers the firing squad only for inmates who chose this method prior to its elimination as an option.


NOTE: states in [brackets] authorize the listed method only if a current method is found unconstitutional (see state description, below, for more information).


If we don't do it here (hanging) why is it being done?

Its seems like more of the same double standard, we don't torture prisoners in the us but its OK to do it over seas?