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South Carolina Rules Execution by Firing Squad Is Lawful

HeadlineAug 02, 2024

South Carolina’s Supreme Court ruled Wednesday that death by firing squad is a lawful method of state-led execution and it does not constitute “cruel or unusual punishment” since death row prisoners can also choose to be electrocuted or die by lethal injection instead. The ruling means the state could soon resume executions, which have been on hold since 2011. The ACLU of South Carolina said, “Execution is a costly, ineffective form of cruel and unusual punishment that not only fails to make us safer but raises the possibility of the state killing innocent people in our name.”

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