As was recently reported, state prisons are running out of drugs used in lethal injections. Various states looking for alternatives to the lethal injection are considering bringing back execution styles of the past.
Firing squads, the electric chair and gas chambers are all in consideration as the US struggles to solve the problem caused by EU regulations on the drugs used in lethal injections. Most states do not use any of these methods anymore in a bid to appeal to human rights activists, the judicial system and the general public, who view these machines as "relics of a grisly past", evoking harrowing images of prolonged suffering before executions.
"This isn't an attempt to time-warp back to the 1850s or the wild west or something." said Missouri state Rep. Rick Brattin, who proposed firing squads as an alternative option. "I'm just trying to come up with a solution that will be the most humane and economical way for our state."
Like Rick Brattin, a Wyoming represenatative offered a bill allowing the firing squad method. Missouri's attorney general has proposed rebuilding the state's gas chamber. And Virginia are set to attemp to bring back the electric chair.
Lethal injection was brought into play in the 1980s in the belief that it would provide a more humane death and a more clinical way to dispense death. Executions is the USA have dropped dramatically to just 39 last year. Some states have now abolished the death penalty completely.
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