Execution by Firing Squad (SB 11)

Senate Bill 11 is a disturbing and barbaric escalation of state power. Instead of shifting away from capital punishment, it allows the state to execute people by firing squad when lethal injection drugs are unavailable or when the person facing execution requests it.

The bill outlines the way a firing squad execution would be carried out: with five Department of Corrections officers, four with live rounds of ammunition and one with a blank round. These officers would not know who had the blank ammunition, and their identities would be kept secret.

We oppose this bill because it is inhumane and pushes Indiana further down the path of expanding the death penalty — a cruel, irreversible practice that should be abolished.