The South Carolina Department of Corrections has announced it is now able to carry out an execution by firing squad.
In May 2021, Gov. Henry McMaster signed a bill that
made the electric chair the default method of execution and made firing squads an alternative.
The last execution in South Carolina took place in 2011, as the state has had trouble receiving access to drugs needed for lethal injections.
Death row inmates can decide which method will be used for their execution. If lethal injection is unavailable, they must choose between electrocution or a firing squad.
With the lack of lethal injection drugs in the state, many see firing squads as the most humane option for execution.
“It’s tragic that a civilized society should eliminate anybody,” said state Sen. Dick Harpootlian in an interview with the Death Penalty Information Center. “But if you’ve got to do it, this is a better way.”
“I don’t have a problem with the firing squad,” said Patricia Hovis, criminal justice department chair at York Technical College. “It doesn’t mean that I always agree with the death penalty. I think it’s more humane than electrocution, lethal injection, the gas chamber.”
Hovis said there are other reasons why the firing squad may be chosen over other methods.
“I think from a budgetary perspective it’s probably the least expensive for the state. I do think that it is difficult for the executioner,” she said. “Studies in our state show that they don’t fare well after having to execute someone. But from an inmate perspective, I don’t think the firing squad is inhumane.”
To others, the move is seen as archaic and a step in the wrong direction for the state.
Only three other states — Mississippi, Oklahoma and Utah — offer it as an option. The last time someone was executed by firing squad was in 2010.
“Firing squads and electrocution are execution methods that previously were replaced by lethal injection, which is considered more humane,” said Justice 360 executive director Lindsey Vann in an interview with the Death Penalty Information Center. “The new law makes South Carolina the only state going back to the less humane execution methods.”
Members of the firing squads will be volunteers from the Department of Corrections who will have to meet certain qualifications set by the department.
There are currently 35 people set to be executed in South Carolina, almost half of whom are Black. However, only 27% of the population in South Carolina is Black, according to the 2021 census.
