The five principal execution methods used in U.S. history are lethal injection, electrocution, lethal gas, firing squad, and hanging. Lethal injection is the dominant modern method, but some jurisdictions authorize alternatives. Which method can apply depends on the jurisdiction’s current law and, in some cases, whether an alternative is elected or triggered as a fallback.
Which execution methods are used in the United States?
The Death Penalty Information Center (DPIC) identifies five principal methods in the United States: lethal injection, electrocution, the gas chamber, firing squad, and hanging. The list covers methods used historically as well as those still authorized in some jurisdictions; it does not mean every method is currently available or used nationwide. DPIC’s methods overview describes the categories.
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Lethal injection
Lethal injection is the most widespread modern method and is the primary or default method in most death-penalty jurisdictions. The drugs and procedures are set by jurisdiction-specific protocols, which are not uniform and can change. Drug availability and legal challenges have also contributed to some states authorizing alternatives.
Electrocution
Electrocution remains authorized in some states, generally as an alternative rather than the default. Depending on the statute, an eligible prisoner may be able to choose it, or it may become available only after another method is unavailable or invalidated. State courts have invalidated the electric chair under state constitutional law in Georgia and Nebraska; those decisions are not a nationwide U.S. Supreme Court ruling.
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Lethal gas, including nitrogen hypoxia
“Lethal gas” covers distinct approaches. Older gas-chamber executions used cyanide; nitrogen hypoxia is a newer method involving nitrogen and oxygen deprivation. DPIC’s methods page, accessed in 2026, reports that five states specifically authorize nitrogen hypoxia. It also reports that Alabama and Louisiana have issued protocols and carried out executions using it. Authorization, an operational protocol, and actual use are separate facts.
Firing squad
Firing squad is authorized in a small number of states, with statutes treating it as a fallback, an elected alternative, or a primary method. DPIC reports that South Carolina carried out three firing-squad executions during 2025. Idaho’s law makes firing squad the primary method effective July 1, 2026, illustrating how the status of a method can change over time.
Hanging
Hanging was the primary U.S. execution method until approximately the 1890s and is chiefly a historical method in contemporary overviews. Old statutes and cases, including those in places that have since abolished capital punishment, can complicate broad claims about whether it is “authorized.” It should not be described as a normal present-day method without specifying the jurisdiction and date.
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Three different questions matter: whether a statute allows a method, whether the responsible agency has an active protocol for carrying it out, and whether an execution has actually been performed by that method. One does not automatically establish the others. Nitrogen hypoxia is a clear example: a state’s statutory authorization alone does not show that it has adopted a protocol or used the method.
DPIC’s current overview, accessed in 2026, reports nine states authorizing electrocution, nine authorizing gas, and five authorizing firing squad. These are counts of legal authorization, not counts of recent executions or active protocols. They may change as laws and effective dates change.
Why does the applicable method vary by state?
State statutes set the method and conditions for alternatives in state prosecutions. A method may be the default, available by prisoner election under specified conditions, or permitted only if a prior method is unavailable or held unconstitutional. For example, Alabama’s law sets lethal injection as the default while allowing specified elections; South Carolina sets electrocution as the default unless an eligible prisoner chooses an available alternative. Mississippi’s law specifies a sequence of alternatives tied to unavailability or invalidation. The particular statute and the circumstances of an individual case determine which method applies.
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Federal cases also have a state-law connection. The Department of Justice’s 2026 report, Restoring and Strengthening the Federal Death Penalty, states: “Federal law permits federal authorities to carry out executions using any method permitted by the law of the state in which the sentence is imposed.” Its state table explains that those state methods satisfy federal law governing implementation when the federal sentence was imposed in that state. This does not mean federal and state execution protocols are identical.
Are these methods comparable in pain, reliability, or constitutionality?
The legal counts and examples above do not establish comparative pain, reliability, or nationwide constitutionality. Those questions require separate evidence. A method’s presence in a statute does not, by itself, settle whether a particular protocol is valid or how it would be assessed in an individual case.
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