recently Joseph wood he was a convicted double murderer he was put to death in Arizona 2 hours after the lethal injection needle had been placed in his arm he was still gasping for breath on the table and this follows botched executions in Ohio and Oklahoma so is lethal injection cruel and unusual well let's start with the basics 32 states currently have the death penalty 18 by the way have voted to abolish some like Michigan abolished it as early as 1846 others like Maryland far more recently in 2013 of the 32 states that have the death penalty lethal injection is the designated primary method although there are other options in certain States like electrocution gas chamber hanging and even firing squad but let's go to the Constitution the eth amendment reads as follows excessive bail shall not be required nor excessive fines imposed now here's the key nor cruel and unusual punishment inflicted keep that in mind in the mid 19th century hanging was the predominant form of execution by 1888 New York became the first state to adopt electrocution but in 1977 Oklahoma became the first state to adopt lethal injection and 5 years later Texas was the first state to use it on several occasions the Supreme Court has been asked to invalidate a method of execution in the 1870s the Supreme Court held that the firing squad it's not cruel and unusual punishment a little after that the Supreme Court held that electrocution was also not cruel and unusual punishment in the 1940s the Supreme Court said that administering electrocution twice after the first failed attempt is also not cruel unusual punishment in 2008 finally the court found that lethal injection is also allowed for many of the justices on the Supreme Court the definition of cruel and unusual punishment is the infliction of pain for the sake of pain now they give specific examples like disembowelment beheading public dissection drawing and quartering burning aive if it's not though a deliberate infliction of pain according to the court it's not cruel and unusual but let's say for the sake of argument okay that it was constitutional to behead someone would it be constitutional to not care about the sharpness of the blade and have to drop it like five times to execute someone that's essentially what lawyers who are opposed to lethal injection are arguing the court so far does not agree there may be moral questions religious questions ethical questions regarding capital punishment regarding lethal injection but in the eyes of the Supreme Court capital punishment and specifically lethal injection does not constitute cruel and unusual punish