US execution methods face scrutiny after failures

Execution methods in the United States vary widely by state, with lethal injection still the most common method but nitrogen inhalation and firing squads also used in recent years.

Lethal injection is authorised in 28 states and at the federal level. Of the 47 executions carried out in 2025, 39 were by lethal injection, five by nitrogen inhalation and three by firing squad.

Nitrogen inhalation was first used in Alabama in 2024. UN experts have likened the method to a form of torture. South Carolina used firing squads in 2025, marking the first use of that method in the United States since 2010.

Some states have struggled to obtain drugs for lethal injections from pharmaceutical companies unwilling to be linked to capital punishment. South Carolina, Utah and Indiana resumed executions in 2024 after suspending them for more than a decade for that reason.

Laura Porter, director of a coalition of US groups campaigning to abolish the death penalty, told AFP that no execution method avoids the risk of failure. She said secrecy around protocols, drugs and execution teams makes problems difficult to examine before an execution takes place.