Deborah Denno comments to the Los Angeles Times on a convicted murderer in Utah, who, upon being denied his final appeal, chose to face execution by firing squad rather than lethal injection.
Deborah Denno, a law professor at Fordham University who has studied execution techniques, said: “The anti-death-penalty people think it’s barbaric, and the pro-death-penalty people think it detracts from capital punishment. But when you think of all the methods, the firing squad would be the most dignified. Someone’s standing up and facing their death.”
Along with hanging, the firing squad was once the customary way to execute criminals in the U.S., according to Denno. It persisted in Utah as a vestige of the old Mormon belief of blood atonement for sins, she said, which is why the Beehive State has been the only one to use it since the Supreme Court reinstated capital punishment in 1976.
In the rest of the country, Denno said, the firing squad began to be phased out at the start of the 20th century with the introduction of the electric chair, which was viewed as more humane. That method is now frowned upon after some high-profile problems. Lethal injection is now the most common form of execution.
The entire Los Angeles Times story ran on June 18, 2010.