After a 13-year hiatus, South Carolina has resumed executions by firing squad. The system has already claimed two victims: Brad Sigmon and Mikal Mahdi. A new law allowed them to “choose” the firing squad over lethal injection or the electric chair.
Firing squads are usually associated with courts-martial. The United States military used them in every war to make examples of deserters and spies. Nazi Germany and other dictatorships also killed people by firing squad. But what actually happens?
Witnesses watch as you are strapped into a chair and a bull’s-eye is taped to your chest. A hood is placed over your head. The rifles, hidden behind a wall, are aimed at you. One has a live round. On the signal, they fire. And death isn’t always instantaneous. There may be minutes of gasping and struggle before the end comes. According to legal scholar Corinna Lain, watching is critical.
“Ending life before the body is ready to end it requires violence…the chief benefit of lethal injection is it hides it,” she notes. This shift from internal to external violence could open eyes for some. The firing squad “shows what the death penalty is...the state shedding blood in your name.” And that violence transcends the prison.
Lethal injection was supposed to be a “humane” reform. Prison was a reform, replacing public executions and whippings as punishment on its own. But after generations of reforms, where are we now? Fifteen more executions are scheduled for 2025. What will the people on death row “choose”? Who deserves to be murdered by the state and why?