A Dark Shadow: The Intensification and Expansion of Lethal Injection Drug Secrecy

Over the last decade, many death penalty states in the United States have enacted secrecy laws shielding the identity of lethal injection drug suppliers and executioners. Death penalty defense lawyers, legislators, and scholars have examined the constitutionality and efficacy of these laws. However, little attention has been paid to the history of death penalty secrecy and its relationship to existing secrecy statutes. This article analyzes that history and relationship. It describes a surprising pattern of openness and transparency about the identities of executioners and others involved in America's capital punishment process. Current lethal injection secrecy laws break with that pattern and cast a virtually unprecedented shadow over the execution process. This article concludes by assessing the consequences of the recent intensification and expansion of execution secrecy.