Authorized Methods Of Execution By State

After difficulties in acquiring lethal injection drugs, some states are turning to more archaic methods of execution. In South Carolina, the governor recently signed a bill that requires death row inmates to choose between the electric chair or firing squad if lethal injection is not possible.

Primary method
Alternative method
Not authorized
No death penalty

Notes

^New Hampshire abolished the death penalty but the repeal may not apply retroactively, leaving a single prisoner on death row facing possible execution.
*California, Oregon and Pennsylvania currently have governor-imposed moratoria on the death penalty.