BOISE, ID – Idaho will begin performing executions by firing squad for death row inmates starting next year, despite concerns over the ethics of the method.
Lawmakers passed a bill earlier this year making death by firing squad the primary method of execution in the state starting July 1, 2026. Just four other states allow death by firing squad, and Idaho will be the only one in which it is the main method of execution.
Supporters call firing squads quick and accurate.
Robin Maher, executive director of the Death Penalty Information Center, said two firing squad executions were carried out this year in South Carolina for the first time in the U.S. since 2010, and in one case, an executioner missed.
“Executions by firing squad are violent,” Maher argued. “They’re graphic and they’re bloody. And they look like what they are, which is the killing of another human being. It will be very hard to witness and that vivid spectacle may change the way some people feel about the death penalty.”
Executions across the U.S. have been steadily decreasing since peaking in 1999, although there has been an uptick in recent years. Maher stressed the long-term trend is most meaningful, noting just three states are responsible for more than 60% of executions this year: Florida, South Carolina and Texas.
Idaho officials said they plan to build an automated firing squad which does not involve humans, with the cost for doing so estimated at nearly $1 million. Maher noted an automated system has never been used before and it creates more risk. She contended it weakens the moral authority of those who enact the death penalty.
“The idea that executions are legal and morally correct really can’t be reconciled with efforts to remove responsibility from the people who conduct executions,” Maher stressed. “It betrays, I think, a little bit of doubt on the part of government officials about the appropriateness of using the death penalty and of asking people to participate in executions.”
Only 53% of the American public now supports the death penalty, according to the Death Penalty Information Center. Maher pointed out support has been declining largely because young people are against the punishment.
“They have seen many cases where innocent people are convicted and cannot get the relief they are entitled,” Maher explained. “There’s growing doubt about use of the death penalty as a meaningful deterrent to future crime, and there’s opposition to the high cost of the death penalty in many jurisdictions.”
