Editing Lethal injection (section)

{{short description|Form of execution involving injection of chemicals into the bloodstream}}
{{About||the 1993 album|Lethal Injection (album)}}
{{Globalize|article|US|date=August 2023}}
{{Use mdy dates|date=March 2016}}
[[File:Map of use of lethal injection in the United States.svg|thumb|250px|Usage of lethal injection for the death penalty by jurisdiction in the United States in 2025

<br />'''With the death penalty'''
{{legend|#CC6633;|Jurisdiction uses only this method (12)}}
{{legend|#FF9900;|Jurisdiction uses this method primarily but has other methods (14)}}
{{legend|#ffdd55ff;|Jurisdiction uses this method as a secondary method (1)}}
'''Without the death penalty'''
{{legend|#7fff00;|Jurisdiction once used this method, but no longer does (8)}}
{{legend|#0048BA;|Jurisdiction once adopted this method, but never actually used it (4)}}
{{legend|#0099CC;|Jurisdiction has never adopted or used this method (11+)}}
]]<!--Please note that other methods' pages, namely firing squad, gas chamber, and electric chair, use the same map image and caption format. If you change the image or caption, please change the others too. -->

'''Lethal injection''' is the practice of injecting one or more drugs into a person (typically a [[barbiturate]], [[Neuromuscular-blocking drug|paralytic]], and [[potassium chloride|potassium]]) for the express purpose of causing  [[death]]. The main application for this procedure is [[capital punishment]], but the term may also be applied in a broader sense to include [[euthanasia]] and other forms of [[suicide]]. The drugs cause the person to become unconscious, stops their breathing, and causes a heart [[arrhythmia]], in that order.

First developed in the [[Capital punishment in the United States|United States]], the method has become a legal means of execution in [[Capital punishment in China|Mainland China]], [[Capital punishment in Thailand|Thailand]] (since 2003), [[Capital punishment in Guatemala|Guatemala]], [[Capital punishment in Taiwan|Taiwan]], the [[Capital punishment in the Maldives|Maldives]], [[Capital punishment in Nigeria|Nigeria]], and [[Capital punishment in Vietnam|Vietnam]], though Guatemala abolished the death penalty for civilian cases in 2017 and has not conducted an execution since 2000, and the Maldives has never carried out an execution since its independence. Although Taiwan permits lethal injection as an execution method, no executions have been carried out in this manner;<ref>{{cite web |url=https://www.deathpenaltyworldwide.org/country-search-post.cfm?country=Taiwan |title=The Death Penalty in Taiwan |access-date=2018-01-29 |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20171118013613/http://www.deathpenaltyworldwide.org/country-search-post.cfm?country=Taiwan |archive-date=November 18, 2017 |df=mdy-all }}</ref> the same is true for Nigeria. Lethal injection was also used in the [[Capital punishment in the Philippines|Philippines]] until the country re-abolished the death penalty in 2006.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.capitalpunishmentuk.org/injection.html|title=Lethal injection|website=www.capitalpunishmentuk.org|access-date=2016-07-08|url-status=live|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160303202827/http://www.capitalpunishmentuk.org/injection.html|archive-date=March 3, 2016|df=mdy-all}}</ref>

Although primarily introduced as a more "humane" method of execution, lethal injection has been subject to criticism, being described by some as [[Cruel and unusual punishment|cruel and unusual]]. Opponents in particular critique the operation of lethal injections by untrained [[Prison officer|corrections officers]] and the lack of guarantee that the victim will be [[Unconsciousness|unconscious]] in every individual case. There have been instances in which condemned individuals have been injected with paralytics, and then a [[cardiac arrest]]-inducing agent, while still conscious; this has been compared to [[torture]]. Proponents often say that there is no reasonable or less cruel alternative.<ref name="horizon" /><ref name=":5" />