Lethal injection is the practice of injecting a combination of poisons into a person with a fatal dose of drugs (typically a barbiturate, paralytic, and potassium solution) for the express purpose of causing immediate death. The main application for this procedure is capital punishment, but the term may also be applied in a broad sense to euthanasia and suicide. It kills the person by first putting the person to sleep, and then stopping the breathing and heart, in that order.

History

Lethal injection gained popularity in the late twentieth century as a form of execution intended to supplant other methods, notably electrocution, hanging, firing squad, gas chamber, and beheading, that were considered to be more painful. It is now the most common form of execution in the United States of America.

Lethal injection, known as putting someone to death, was first proposed on January 17, 1888, by Julius Mount Bleyer, a New York doctor who praised it as being cheaper than hanging. Bleyer's idea, however, was never used. Almost half a century later, lethal injection was revisited, due to a series of botched executions and the eventual rise of public disapproval in electrocutions. Nazi Germany developed the Action T4 euthanasia program as one of its methods of disposing of Lebensunwertes Leben ("life unworthy of life"). The British Royal Commission on Capital Punishment (1949–53) also considered lethal injection, but eventually ruled it out after pressure from the British Medical Association (BMA).

Lethal Injection is the fourth studio album by California-based rapper Ice Cube. Similar to the rapper's previous albums, it was a commercial hit, debuting at #5 on the Billboard 200 with 215,000 copies sold in its first week. However, it was heavily criticized for what many saw as Cube's pandering to gangsta rap, and toning down of the socio-political content found on his earlier efforts. The album's standing has increased over time. It includes the popular singles; "You Know How We Do It", and the Funkadelic-sampling "Bop Gun (One Nation)", which became a staple on MTV.

Track listing

Partial list of samples

Really Doe "Intro from the Film: American Me"

You Know How We Do It

Bop Gun (One Nation)

Lil' Ass Gee

When I Get to Heaven