Lethal injection, nitrogen, firing squads: How US states carry out executions

The unprecedented botched execution of a woman in Tennessee has reignited the debate over execution methods in the United States — which varies from lethal injection to firing squads. Methods used in the US Methods vary by state. States carry out the vast majority of executions, while federal executions are rare. Lethal injection, authorised in 28 states and at the federal level, remains by far the most common execution method since the death penalty was reinstated in the United States in 1976. Of the 47 executions carried out in 2025, 39 were by lethal injection. Five others were by nitrogen…