Cite as: 503 U. S. 653 (1992)
Stevens, J., dissenting
opinion becomes enlightened by a humane justice." Weems v. United States, 217 U. S. 349, 378 (1910). Accordingly, we have "interpreted the [Eighth] Amendment 'in a flexible and dynamic manner.' " Stanford v. Kentucky, 492 U. S. 361, 369 (1989) (quoting Gregg v. Georgia, 428 U. S. 153, 171 (1976) (opinion of Stewart, Powell, and Stevens, JJ.)). When the California statute requiring execution by cyanide gas was enacted in 1937, the gas chamber was considered a humane method of execution. Fifty-five years of history and moral development have superseded that judgment. The barbaric use of cyanide gas in the Holocaust, the development of cyanide agents as chemical weapons, our contemporary understanding of execution by lethal gas, and the development of less cruel methods of execution all demonstrate that execution by cyanide gas is unnecessarily cruel. "The traditional humanity of modern Anglo-American law forbids the infliction of unnecessary pain in the execution of the death sentence." Louisiana ex rel. Francis v. Resweber, 329 U. S. 459, 463 (1947) (opinion of Reed, J.).
Nowhere is this moral progress better demonstrated than in the decisions of the state legislatures. Of the 20 or so States to adopt new methods of execution since our ruling in Gregg v. Georgia, 428 U. S. 153 (1976), not a single State has chosen execution by lethal gas. Ten years ago, 10 States mandated execution by lethal gas; one by one, those States have abandoned that method as inhumane and torturous. Only California, Maryland, and Arizona currently mandate execution by gas.8 Of the 168 persons executed in the United States since 1977, only 6 have been executed by lethal gas. We have frequently emphasized that "[t]he clearest and most reliable objective evidence of contemporary values is the legislation enacted by the country's legislatures." Penry v. Lynaugh, 492 U. S. 302, 331 (1989). These "objec-8 As noted above, Arizona is considering abandoning lethal gas as a means of execution. See n. 6, supra. Maryland has not yet resumed executions.
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