The Death Penalty in the OSCE Area of those surveyed saw the death penalty as morally justified, while 31 per cent saw it as morally wrong.95 Legal Framework The statutes of 31 states allow for the death penalty, in: Alabama, Arizona, Arkansas, California, Colorado, Delaware, Florida, Georgia, Idaho, Indiana, Kansas, Kentucky, Louisiana, Mississippi, Missouri, Montana, Nevada, New Hampshire, North Carolina, Ohio, Oklahoma, Oregon, Pennsylvania, South Carolina, South Dakota, Tennessee, Texas, Utah, Virginia, Washington and Wyoming. The federal government, including in the military justice system, also allows this form of punishment. Methods of Execution Lethal injection is the primary method of execution in the United States – either as a sole method, or as one of the options offered to death row inmates in certain states.96 All people executed in the reporting period were administered a lethal injection.97 Alternative methods to lethal injection are electrocution (in eight states), gas chamber (five), hanging (three) and firing squad (three).98 Tennessee allows that electrocution may be used if the drugs for lethal injections are not available.99 In March 2015, a law entered into force in the state of Utah allowing firing squads to be used for executions in the event that the drugs required for lethal injection are unavailable. In April 2015, in the state of Oklahoma a new law came into effect allowing the use of nitrogen gas as a form of execution if either the drugs for lethal injection are unavailable or if lethal injection is struck down by the courts.100 North Carolina passed a law classifying information about the manufacturers of 95  “Less Support for Death Penalty, Especially Among Democrats“, Pew Research Center, 16 April 2015, <http://www. people-press.org/2015/04/16/less-support-for-death-penalty-especially-among-democrats/>. 96  “Methods of Execution”, Death Penalty Information Center website, <http://www.deathpenaltyinfo.org/methods-execution>. 97  “Execution list 2014”, Death Penalty Information Center website, <http://www.deathpenaltyinfo.org/executionlist-2014>, “Execution list 2015”, Death Penalty Information Center, <http://www.deathpenaltyinfo.org/execution-list-2015>. 98  Death Penalty Information Center, op. cit., note 96. 99  Ibid. 100  Ibid. 24