The return of the firing squad in Trump’s America

特朗普时代的美国,行刑队重返江湖

Today in Focus

2026-07-03

27 分钟
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Why are more states than ever in the US using the firing squad as a method of execution? With chief reporter for Guardian US Ed Pilkington. Help support our independent journalism at theguardian.com/infocus
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  • This is The Guardian.

  • Today, the return of the firing squad.

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  • Boost Mobile.

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  • Apologies in all of this.

  • I have this all the time.

  • The need to describe events that are very brutal and extremely distressing.

  • This is Ed Pilkington, the chief reporter of Guardian US.

  • But this is how it works.

  • A prisoner who has been sitting...

  • For several days in a cell next to the execution chamber awaiting his fate.

  • This usually is a male, though in Idaho there is one of the eight prisoners on death row is a woman.

  • The prisoner is brought into the execution chamber usually by two or three guards.

  • They're sat down on a chair surrounded by sandbags in case the bullets fly around.

  • They're strapped down so they're absolutely immobile, including a strap over their chin so that their head can't move.

  • And then they have a black hood placed over their head so they cannot see what's happening.

  • The marksmen take their positions.

  • They stand behind a wall so you can't see them.