The Debate Over Firing Squads for US Executions

Firing squads are making a comeback in the US as states scramble for alternatives to lethal injections after pharmaceuticals barred the use of their drugs. Idaho lawmakers passed a bill this week seeking to add the state to the list of those authorizing firing squads, currently Mississippi, Utah, Oklahoma and South Carolina. Some, including a few Supreme Court justices, view firing squads as less cruel than lethal injections despite the violence involved in riddling bodies with bullets. However, others argue that firing squads are visibly violent and bloody compared with lethal injections, potentially traumatizing victims' relatives and other witnesses as well as executioners and staffers who clean up afterward.