Burning, stoning, and crucifying have been used extensively in earlier days. Today's methods are electrocution, the gas chamber, lethal injection, firing squad, and hanging. Electrocution was first used by the state of New York in 1890. Nevertheless, Utah and Idaho are the only states to utilize the firing squad. The most traditional death- penalty method was hanging up until the use of lethal injection.
Lethal injection is the most used method of capital punishment today.
Even a slight error in dosage or administration can leave a prisoner conscious but paralyzed while dying, a sentient witness of his or her own asphyxiation. We, as a civilized society, should be ashamed of inflicting pain and suffering on individuals no matter what crimes they have committed. There is the question of cost effectiveness when deciding which is economically more feasible when conducting the death penalty. The use of capital punishment is much more expensive than life-time sentences. It is nearly three times more expensive to execute someone than it is to keep a person in prison for forty years.