The histories of electrocution, the gas chamber, and lethal injection in the United States are examples of institutional fads. Critiques of existing execution methods are encouraged by the American legal system, which permits appeals based on eighth amendment grounds, and by a larger culture that endorses the principle that execution should be humane. The histories of capital punishment in the United States reveal a cyclical pattern: critiques of existing methods of execution inspire the adoption of a new method that is presented as more humane and less problematic; this in turn leads to a new round of criticism. The historical shift from hanging to death by electrocution, gas chamber, and most recently, lethal injection reflects an institutional fad cycle. This analysis of this fad cycle is consistent with other theories of penal change. In addition, there is some evidence that the execution fad cycle is growing faster. While the history of changing methods of execution tend to be treated as evidence of a technological imperative or the march of progress, it should be noted that decisions to adopt a particular new method are not straightforward. For one reason or another, Americans have declined to adopt other available technologies of death, such as firing squads or the guillotine. This fad cycle may very well continue, with lethal injection eventually being supplanted by some new, putatively more humane method of execution. By recognizing the fad cycle in methods of execution, the critical thought process about claims promoting the next humane mode for inflicting death in capital cases can be aided. Notes and references