US death-penalty states buck public sentiment to find new ways to kill

Alabama's death chamber at Holman correctional facility in Atmore. Kenneth Smith is scheduled to be executed by the untried nitrogen hypoxia method this month. Photograph: Dave Martin/AP

Death-penalty states in the US are taking increasingly extreme steps to keep their execution chambers operating, despite growing anxiety among the American people that the practice of capital punishment is unfair.

This year, the number of states carrying out executions declined to a 20-year low. Just five states, Alabama, Florida, Missouri, Oklahoma and Texas, judicially killed prisoners.