Execution by firing squad

Execution by firing squad is a method of capital punishment in which a group of shooters kill a person with gunfire. Procedures and legal status vary across jurisdictions and historical periods.

Firing squad: A group of people organized to fire weapons together, often in military or execution contexts. The execution method takes its name from the group that carries it out.
Romanov family execution: The 1918 killing of Russia’s former imperial family and their attendants by Bolshevik forces. It is a widely known historical instance of execution by gunfire.
Gary Gilmore: An American murderer executed by firing squad in Utah in 1977. His execution became a prominent modern example of the method in the United States.
Hanging: Execution by suspending a person by the neck, typically causing death by strangulation or injury. Hanging has been a major alternative to execution by gunfire.
Cruel and unusual punishment: A legal standard prohibiting punishments that are excessive or incompatible with prevailing constitutional principles. Challenges to execution methods often ask whether they violate this prohibition.
Capital punishment: State-authorized execution of a person as punishment for a crime. Firing-squad execution is one method governments have used to carry out this penalty.
French Revolution: A period of political upheaval in France beginning in 1789 that ended the monarchy and reshaped Europe. Revolutionary violence and military executions formed part of the period’s political conflicts.
John Albert Taylor: An American convicted murderer executed by firing squad in Utah in 1996. His case was the last firing-squad execution in the United States for decades.
Electric chair: An execution device that kills through a high-voltage electric current. It represents a mechanized alternative to a firing squad.
Eighth Amendment to the United States Constitution: The constitutional amendment barring excessive bail and fines and cruel and unusual punishments in the United States. It frames American legal disputes about execution methods, including firing squads.

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