Tennessee's failed attempt to execute Christa Pike has reignited the question of whether there is a humane way to kill. Pike, 50, was convicted for the murder of classmate Colleen Slemmer when she was 18. Witnesses described her snoring loudly about 40 minutes after receiving two injections of pentobarbital on Wednesday. She was taken to a medical facility with her condition unknown. This was the second botched execution in months, prompting Tennessee's governor to order a halt to executions.
History of execution methods
Lethal injection was introduced as a humane alternative to firing squads and electric chairs, which themselves were seen as improvements on hanging. Hanging resembled lynching in a system that disproportionately sentenced black men to death. Botched injections may be linked to the age and ill health of those executed, as well as the ethical refusal of most medical staff to participate. However, analysis of autopsy results has provided compelling evidence that suffering is inherent to these executions. Injections, especially those involving paralytic drugs, have merely disguised the suffering. What is described as safeguarding the dignity of prisoners is really about reducing the discomfort of witnesses who would otherwise see their suffering.
Rising executions in the US
Campaigner pressure on pharmaceutical companies has curbed the supply of lethal drugs, but it has not stopped executions. Donald Trump's enthusiasm for the death penalty has spurred state officials, with 2025 seeing the highest number of executions in 16 years. Some states have found alternative drugs that may increase suffering. Others are using different techniques. In June, the supreme court stopped Alabama from executing a prisoner with nitrogen gas, which it has used in other cases. The use of firing squads has resurged. Experts say such deaths can be "excruciating," especially where marksmen miss the heart of the condemned, with allegations that some executions could even have been deliberately botched.
Global and domestic trends
The US is in a shameful minority. Three-quarters of countries have abolished capital punishment in law or practice, with Lebanon this year becoming the first Middle Eastern country to do so. Only 17 countries executed prisoners last year, though the total number killed rose to more than 2,700, the highest since 1984. The figures do not include China, believed to carry out the most executions. While Trump and others champion capital punishment, the American public is turning away from it. In 1994, 80% supported it; by last year, that had fallen to 52%. A majority of younger people oppose it.
Miscarriages and the case of Pike
High-profile miscarriages of justice have contributed to growing disquiet, as have cases such as Pike's. She endured sexual abuse and rape by three perpetrators in childhood, as well as beatings and neglect, yet her experiences and age were not adequately put forward by lawyers at her trial. Her bipolar disorder and post-traumatic stress disorder were diagnosed only afterwards. Sandra Babcock, an expert on the death penalty who acted on Pike's behalf, argued that her execution would confirm that it was reserved "not for the worst of the worst, but for the most damaged and vulnerable among us."
The ultimate problem, however, is not that the wrong people are being executed, but that anyone is being executed. The search for a humane way to kill is inherently preposterous. It is not just lethal injection, the firing squad, or electrocution that should be rejected, but the death penalty itself.
