![\"ambulances](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/10\/6f8502b617a4725c6229b54aaf0b8660.jpeg\")
Emergency vehicles arrived at Riverbend Maximum Security Institution following Christa Pike’s attempted execution.(Reuters: Denny Simmons\/The Tennessean\/USA Today Network)<\/p>\nAs death row inmate Christa Pike remains in hospital following a failed lethal injection, we take a closer look at the track record for botched executions in the US.\u00a0<\/p>\n
Days after receiving two doses of the lethal injection drug pentobarbital, death row inmate Christa Pike remains alive.<\/p>\n
Her attempted execution, which made headlines around the world, left many wondering: how often does a death penalty go badly wrong?\u00a0<\/p>\n
In the United States, the answer is: more often than you think.<\/p>\n
Emergency vehicles arrived at Riverbend Maximum Security Institution following Christa Pike’s attempted execution.(Reuters: Denny Simmons\/The Tennessean\/USA Today Network)<\/p>\n
And what happened to Christa Pike should concern even those who are in favour of the death penalty, according to Julian Koplin, a lecturer in bioethics at the Monash Bioethics Centre.<\/p>\n
“If you are in favour of the death penalty, you think that in principle, [for] certain kinds of crimes \u2026 it might be proportionate justice for you to lose your own life,” Dr Koplin told the ABC.<\/p>\n
“But that’s not to say it would be appropriate to torture someone.<\/p>\n
“Executions themselves are not meant to be overly painful.\u00a0<\/p>\n
“We don’t still burn people at the stake.”276<\/p>\n
The estimated number of botched executions in the US between 1890 and 2010.\u00a0<\/p>\n
Read more <\/a><\/p>\n During that time period, the US conducted 8,776 executions, according to political science professor Austin Sarat.<\/p>\n Methods included lethal injection, hanging, gas, electrocution and firing squad.<\/p>\n According to the Death Penalty Information Center, an execution is “botched” when it departs from standard protocol.<\/p>\n Dr Sarat, who published a book analysing the US execution history, estimated about 3.14 per cent of them were botched.<\/p>\n Botched executions were those “involving unanticipated problems [that] caused unnecessary agony for the prisoner”.<\/p>\n “With each development in the technology of execution, the same promises have been made, that each new technology was safe, reliable, effective and humane,” he wrote.<\/p>\n “Those claims have not generally been fulfilled.”<\/p>\n In commentary published last week, Dr Sarat also noted Pike’s case was “not an isolated event”.<\/p>\n 7.2 per cent\u00a0<\/p>\n The estimated rate of botched lethal injections since 1976.\u00a0<\/p>\n Read more <\/a><\/p>\n There have been 1,492 executions via lethal injection since its adoption in 1977.\u00a0<\/p>\n According to author Dr Sarat’s analysis in 2014, 75 of 1,054 lethal injection executions conducted had gone wrong in some way.\u00a0<\/p>\n All 27 death penalty states, along with the US military and US federal government, have authorised the method.\u00a0<\/p>\n Lethal injection has the highest rate of being botched compared to any other execution method, according to Dr Sarat.\u00a0<\/p>\n Prior to Christa Pike, no person has ever survived the lethal injection drug being administered.\u00a0<\/p>\n “Seven people prior to Ms Pike had survived failed execution attempts,” the Death Penalty Information Center said.\u00a0<\/p>\n “But in all of those, the execution was called off due to difficulties setting an IV line, and no drugs were ever administered.”<\/p>\n ‘Ghastly, uncomfortable’ questions about death sentences<\/p>\n It’s still unclear what exactly went wrong during Christa Pike’s execution.\u00a0<\/p>\n The Tennessee Department of Corrections team responsible for establishing intravenous (IV) lines used at least seven syringes in their attempt, according to an emergency motion filed by Pike’s legal team.<\/p>\n At least one needle was allegedly bent “in a 90-degree angle” when it was removed.\u00a0<\/p>\n Three hours<\/p>\n The length of the longest botched lethal injection execution in history.<\/p>\n Read more <\/a><\/p>\n Pike’s ordeal lasted from shortly after 7pm, when the first dose was administered, to almost 9pm, when emergency services were called to the prison.\u00a0<\/p>\n But hers is not the longest lethal injection incident on record.\u00a0<\/p>\n In August 2022, death row inmate Joe Nathan James Jr was subjected to what a witness described as “carnage”.\u00a0<\/p>\n James suffered multiple unsuccessful attempts to establish an IV line, according to a report by human rights organisation Reprieve.\u00a0<\/p>\n “A private autopsy later documented numerous injuries, including three unexplained cuts in Mr James left arm, deep bruising, and needle puncture wounds,” the report said.<\/p>\n “When [James] was brought into the execution chamber, witnesses reported that he appeared to be unconscious.”<\/p>\n One of these cuts was concluded in that private autopsy to likely be a “cutdown”, a medical procedure where a deep cut exposes a vein.<\/p>\n Some experts have speculated the drug entered the tissue in Pike’s arm, rather than entering the vein.\u00a0<\/p>\n After arriving at a Nashville hospital, both her arms were found to be “swollen, burned, and blistered”.\u00a0<\/p>\n “Ms Pike’s experts have compared pentobarbital to ‘bleach’ or ‘Drano’,” court documents said.\u00a0<\/p>\n “It is caustic and highly alkaline and burns upon contact, including skin, tissue, and veins.”<\/p>\n She remains intubated and on a ventilator, according to her legal team, who say it may be several days before her full condition is known.\u00a0<\/p>\n 2,100<\/p>\n The number of people on death row in the United States.<\/p>\n Read more <\/a><\/p>\n The size of death row has declined every year since 2001, and the total population of death row is now down by more than a third compared to its peak of slightly less than\u00a0 3,600 at the turn of the 21st century.\u00a0<\/p>\n But while the population has decreased, the time spent on death row has only increased.\u00a0<\/p>\n Inmates now spend decades on death row waiting for their execution.\u00a0<\/p>\n In Christa Pike’s case, she had been waiting more than 30 years.\u00a0<\/p>\n 52 per cent<\/p>\n of Americans find the death penalty morally acceptable. That’s a 50-year low.\u00a0<\/p>\n
![\"Two](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/10\/a5ce2c8fa6c748fa338e2b91c4d30839.jpeg\")
Multiple protests took place ahead of Pike’s execution.(AP: George Walker IV)![\"A](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/10\/dd8aa7664df571d2036154b0dadcbb72.jpeg\")
Christa Pike had been waiting on death row for more than 30 years.(AP: Tennessee Department of Correction)<\/p>\n