Governor Sarah Huckabee Sanders signed a bill into law on Tuesday that allows the use of nitrogen gas for executions, making Arkansas the fifth state to adopt this controversial method, which critics argue is unconstitutional.
The new law, backed by supporters as a way to resume executions after an eight-year hiatus, addresses the state’s current inability to carry out the death penalty. Arkansas has 25 inmates on death row but has not executed anyone since 2017, when it carried out four executions before running out of a key sedative used in its lethal injection protocol. The state has been unable to obtain more lethal injection drugs due to resistance from manufacturers.
Attorney General Tim Griffin stated, “As a state, we have failed to keep our promises to the friends and family of victims to execute those sentenced to death under our laws. That ends now. Act 302 gives the state the tools needed to carry out these sentences and deliver justice.”
The nitrogen hypoxia execution method involves forcing an inmate to inhale nitrogen gas, depriving them of the oxygen necessary to survive.
Critics argue that the nitrogen hypoxia method could cause increased suffering, pointing to accounts from witnesses to executions in Alabama, where inmates were reported to have gasped and shaken during the process. State officials contend these movements are involuntary and a result of oxygen deprivation.
Megan Bailey, a spokesperson for the American Civil Liberties Union of Arkansas, described the use of nitrogen suffocation as “a dangerous and regressive move” that sets Arkansas apart from the growing national trend against the death penalty.
In recent years, Arkansas has intensified the secrecy surrounding its execution procedures, including laws that conceal the sources of lethal injection drugs. Critics are concerned that the state is not required to disclose where it would obtain or the type of nitrogen gas it plans to use for executions.
Alabama, the first state to implement nitrogen gas as an execution method, has carried out four executions using the technique since its introduction last year. On Tuesday, Louisiana followed suit, executing a man convicted of killing a woman in 1996.
Mississippi and Oklahoma have passed laws allowing the use of nitrogen gas for executions but have not yet used the method.
Arkansas’ law will go into effect 90 days after the Legislature adjourns, which is expected to be in April at the earliest.
The number of executions in the U.S. remained close to historic lows last year, with executions taking place in only a few states.
