richard dieter, executive director of the death penalty information company in silver springs, maryland. i asked what crimes are punishable to be punished by death? >> murder is the basic crime for which people are on death row. the supreme court said if there this is a crime short of murder, it would be cruel and unusual to have the death penalty. there are a few things like treason and espionage that might be eligible but everybody is on death road for a murder basically. >> is the prosecutor required to use the death penalty? >> no. they are absolutely not required to use the death penalty. in fact, in most instances, prosecutors do not seek the death penalty for death-eligible cases. >> so lethal injection was first used in texas in 1982. it was supposed to be a cheaper, easier way to execute an inmate. not the case? >> well, they carried out about a thousand executions with lethal injection, but when the drugs were withheld by the manufacturers and by the european countries, states have now scrambled to try to find new drugs or new combinations in a bit of experiment with human sub