Fordham Law Professor Deborah Denno, death penalty expert and founding director of Fordham Law’s Neuroscience and Law Center, is quoted in Straight Arrow News ahead of a South Carolina prisoner’s scheduled execution by firing squad—marking the first time in 15 years the method will be used in the United States.
According to one law expert, Sigmon’s choice is not surprising, and speaks to a larger conversation happening across the U.S. about execution methods.
“We have six methods of execution in this country,” Deborah Denno, a professor of law at Fordham School of Law, said. “I think firing squad is the least inhumane method. So I can understand an inmate selecting it; that makes sense to me. It’s the better choice for an inmate, if I were somebody representing that person.”
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Where is execution by firing squad allowed?
The firing squad is authorized in only five states: Idaho, Mississippi, Oklahoma, South Carolina and Utah. However, South Carolina has never executed an inmate by firing squad.
“In recent years, there has been a reevaluation of the firing squad as a possible method of execution, primarily because lethal injection has only gotten worse over the decades,” Denno said. “Lethal injection was first used in 1982. It’s always been a problematic method of execution, and it’s simply gotten worse.”
