Man, if you want a one-stop shop for all the ways you can possibly be executed in the United States, you should check out South Carolina:
South Carolina can execute death row inmates by firing squad, lethal injection or the electric chair, the state's high court ruled Wednesday, opening the door to restart executions after more than a decade.
All five justices agreed with at least part of the ruling. But two of the justices said they felt the firing squad was not a legal way to kill an inmate and one of them felt the electric chair is a cruel and unusual punishment.
(Boy, you'd love to see those court chambers when the justices were arguing over that ruling, right?)
South Carolina is one of five states that allow firing squads for executions; eight allow for gas, eight allow electrocution and 28 use lethal injection (there's some overlap between states).
The state has been active in executions for decades, although they've recently paused capital punishment due to a shortage of materials:
South Carolina has executed 43 inmates since the death penalty was restarted in the U.S. in 1976. Nearly all inmates have chosen lethal injection.
South Carolina hasn't performed an execution since 2011. The state's supplies of drugs for lethal injections expired and no pharmaceutical companies would sell more if they could be publicly identified.
One inmate was scheduled to be executed by firing squad there in 2022, though that execution was ultimately paused:
There are a total of 35 inmates on death row in South Carolina; prosecutors in recent years have been accepting more plea deals and life sentences as executions have stalled.
South Carolina: The most diverse state in the union when it comes to the death penalty.
P.S. Now check out our latest video 👇
