{"id":46447,"date":"2022-02-15T18:15:00","date_gmt":"2022-02-15T23:15:00","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.aclu.org\/issues\/execution-methods"},"modified":"2025-06-17T14:55:22","modified_gmt":"2025-06-17T18:55:22","slug":"execution-methods","status":"publish","type":"issue","link":"https:\/\/www.aclu.org\/issues\/capital-punishment\/execution-methods","title":{"rendered":"Execution Methods"},"parent":46366,"menu_order":0,"template":"","class_list":["post-46447","issue","type-issue","status-publish","hentry"],"acf":{"featured-image":210615,"intro":"The ACLU works in courts, legislatures, and communities to defend and preserve the individual rights and liberties that the Constitution and the laws of the United States guarantee everyone in this country.","what-you-need-to-know":null,"promo":{"description":"","button":"","url":""},"faq":{"description":"","faq-items":null},"featured-stories":null,"latest-stories":null,"whats-at-stake":{"title":"What's at Stake","description":"Recent horrifying botched executions are the results of increasingly risky state practices. Too often, states have been allowed to conduct executions cloaked in secrecy and free of public and judicial scrutiny, to rely on drugs from unknown and untested sources, and to employ personnel of unknown and unverifiable qualifications\u2014with disastrous results. This pattern should be unacceptable in a civilized society dedicated to transparency and the rule of law.\r\n\r\nIndeed, every known method of carrying out executions is barbaric and consists of unjustified retribution, from death on the gallows to death by lethal injection. The traditional method of death by hanging was also easily bungled: If the drop was too short, there would be a slow and agonizing death by strangulation; if the drop was too long, the individual\u2019s head would be torn off. Electrocution was equally horrific: Bodies would jolt, smoke, burn, and bleed as the voltage was raised and lowered. The modern practice of lethal injection purports to be more humane, but as recent prolonged, painful executions in Oklahoma and Arizona prove, these claims are simply unfounded.\r\n\r\nThere is no method of killing a human being that is consistent with our constitutional protections against cruel and unusual punishment."},"actions":"","drupal-id":86,"is_hidden_issue":""},"yoast_head":"\nAmerican Civil Liberties Union<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"The ACLU works in courts, legislatures, and communities to defend and preserve the individual rights and liberties that the Constitution and the laws of the United States guarantee everyone in this country.\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Execution Methods | American Civil Liberties Union\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"The ACLU works in courts, legislatures, and communities to defend and preserve the individual rights and liberties that the Constitution and the laws of the United States guarantee everyone in this country.\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/www.aclu.org\/issues\/capital-punishment\/execution-methods\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"American Civil Liberties Union\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:modified_time\" content=\"2025-06-17T18:55:22+00:00\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:site\" content=\"@aclu\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\/\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.aclu.org\/issues\/capital-punishment\/execution-methods\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.aclu.org\/issues\/capital-punishment\/execution-methods\",\"name\":\"Execution Methods | American Civil Liberties Union\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.aclu.org\/#website\"},\"datePublished\":\"2022-02-15T23:15:00+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2025-06-17T18:55:22+00:00\",\"description\":\"The ACLU works in courts, legislatures, and communities to defend and preserve the individual rights and liberties that the Constitution and the laws of the United States guarantee everyone in this country.\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"ReadAction\",\"target\":[\"https:\/\/www.aclu.org\/issues\/capital-punishment\/execution-methods\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"WebSite\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.aclu.org\/#website\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.aclu.org\/\",\"name\":\"American Civil Liberties Union\",\"description\":\"The ACLU dares to create a more perfect union \u2014 beyond one person, party, or side. 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