INDIANA — Indiana lawmakers are reconsidering how the state carries out executions after a bipartisan vote halted legislation that would have authorized the use of a firing squad, amid broader debates over cost, fairness and the risk of executing innocent people.
The Death Penalty Information Center reports that Indiana representatives have been attempting to lower the cost of executions by exploring alternatives to lethal injection, including the use of a firing squad. DPIC notes that efforts to reform capital punishment are driven both by its high cost to the state and by persistent concerns over disparities in justice for incarcerated people who are later found to be innocent.
DPIC reports that Indiana representatives approved three measures related to the death penalty: requiring at least one media witness to be present at executions, removing nitrogen gas from the list of authorized execution methods, and providing members of the execution team with mental health services paid for by the Department of Corrections.
DPIC also reports that Republican co-authors of House Bill 1119 opposed having the state pay for mental health services for members of the execution team.
Indiana Rep. Matt Pierce highlighted systemic gaps in the criminal justice system, saying, “I think that we should be very careful, and do that as humanely as possible, and we shouldn’t be in a big hurry to do it … we should be asking ourselves: ‘Do we really think that the government and our criminal justice system is infallible, that it is so perfect, that we can actually perform an execution and not risk killing an innocent person?’”
The Innocence Project states, “We urge system actors—including judges, forensic experts, and prosecutors—to examine evidence for scientific accuracy and reliability, as well as to consider the broader civil rights implications of harmful surveillance and investigative technologies.”
Pierce also said, “I would hope that our society has advanced a bit since our state was founded, and would find a firing squad to be a barbaric way to perform an execution. At the end of the day, we are killing a person, we are taking a human life in the name of the state, in the name of the people of Indiana.”
Pro-life Republican legislator Rep. Robert Morris said, “We have executed people in this country wrongfully. One thing is for certain: you will never bring that life back when it is gone.” House Bill 1287, Morris said, is intended to hold decision-makers accountable for whom they are putting to death and how.
The Innocence Project helped Tommy Lee Walker’s family obtain justice 70 years after his execution. A number of unjust and discriminatory practices led to the false conviction of Walker, who was only 19 years old at the time.
DPIC states that former Indiana Gov. Eric Holcomb and the Indiana Department of Corrections used shield laws to obscure the cost of Joseph Corcoran’s execution in December 2024.
Gov. Mike Braun said, “We’ve got to address the broad issue of what are other methods, the discussion of capital punishment in general, and then something that costs, I think, $300,000 a pop that has a 90-day shelf life — I’m not going to be for putting it on the shelf and then letting them expire.”
According to the IndyStar, firing squads have been proposed as a response to the high cost of lethal injection drugs.
DPIC states, “Some legislators have responded with efforts to revive previously abandoned methods such as firing squad and electrocution; introduce relatively new or untested alternatives like nitrogen gas suffocation or fentanyl; and authorizing use of any method not deemed unconstitutional.”
DPIC also points to the legal ambiguity surrounding such proposals, stating, “If lethal injection is deemed unconstitutional, HB 307 now allows the state to use any execution method approved by another state so long as the U.S. Supreme Court has not found it to be unconstitutional. The Supreme Court has never found an execution method to be unconstitutional.”
The death penalty remains costly and inhumane, and it disproportionately harms marginalized communities that are more likely to receive death sentences. DPIC emphasizes the stakes of death penalty legislation, underscoring the humanity of incarcerated individuals whose lives are directly affected.
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