Lethal Injection

Lethal injection is the most recent invention in capital punishment with its first use in Texas in1982, and has become preferred method in a majority of states as the most humane way to execute an inmate. The process for an execution by lethal injection begins by strapping the prisoner down to a gurney and attaching heart monitors to their chest. Two needles are inserted into an open vein and a saline solution is pumped into the inmate's system. The first drug used in the process is sodium thiopental, an anesthetic that eases the inmate to sleep. Next, pancuronium bromide or pavulon are injected, paralyzing the inmates body and ceasing respiratory function. The last drug used is potassium chloride, used to stop the beating of the inmate's heart. The inmate usually dies while unconscious from an anesthetic overdose, cardiac arrest, and respiratory arrest*. 

Since its adoption, over 1170 inmates have been executed by lethal injection**.