Lethal injection

Lethal injection is the practice of injecting one or more drugs into a person (typically a barbiturate, paralytic, and potassium solution) for the express purpose of causing rapid death. The main application for this procedure is capital punishment, but the term may also be applied in a broader sense to include euthanasia and other forms of suicide. The drugs cause the person to become unconscious, stops their breathing, and causes a heart arrhythmia, in that order. First developed in the United States, it has become a legal means of execution in Mainland China, Thailand (since 2003), Guatemala, Taiwan, the Maldives, Nigeria, and Vietnam, though Guatemala abolished the death penalty in civil cases in 2017 and has not conducted an execution since 2000 and the Maldives has never carried out an execution since its independence. Although Taiwan permits lethal injection as an execution method, no executions have been carried out in this manner; the same is true for Nigeria. Lethal injection was also used in the Philippines until the country re-abolished the death penalty in 2006. Although primarily introduced as a more "humane" method of execution, lethal injection has been subject to criticism, being described by some as cruel and unusual. Opponents in particular critique the operation of lethal injections by untrained corrections officers and the lack of guarantee that the victim will be unconscious in every individual case. There have been instances in which condemned individuals have been injected with paralytics, and then a cardiac arrest-inducing agent, while still conscious; this has been compared to torture. Proponents often say that there is no reasonable or less cruel alternative. Lethal injection gained popularity in the late 20th century as a form of execution intended to supplant electrocution, gas inhalation, hanging and firing squad, that were considered to be less humane. It is now the most common form of legal execution in the United States.