Electric chair

: The term electric chair is sometimes used in publications by organizations of people with disabilities to mean "electric-powered wheelchair".

Decline

After Texas adopted lethal injection as a method of execution in 1982, the use of the electric chair reduced rapidly. As of 2004, the only places in the world still having the electric chair as an option are the U.S. states of Alabama, Florida, Nebraska, South Carolina, Kentucky, Tennessee and Virginia. Except for Nebraska, where it remains the only method of execution, inmates in the other states must select it or lethal injection. In the state of Florida, on July 8 1999, murderer Allen Lee Davis was executed in the Florida electric chair "Old Sparky". Davis' face was bloodied and photographs taken, which were later released by the Florida Supreme Court. However, electrocution continues to be used as a method of execution in the state of Florida.

Related Topics:
Texas - Lethal injection - 1982 - 2004 - Alabama - Florida - Nebraska - South Carolina - Kentucky - Tennessee - Virginia - July 8 - 1999 - Allen Lee Davis - Old Sparky

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The electric chair has come under criticism because of several instances in which victims were not instantly killed, but had to be subjected to multiple electric shocks, leading to a call for ending of the practice because many see it as cruel and unusual punishment. Trying to address such concerns, Nebraska's new electrocution protocol calls for administration of a 15-second-long jolt of 2,450 volts of electricity; after a 15-minute wait, a coroner then checks for signs of life. (Previously, an initial eight-second jolt of 2,450 volts was administered, followed by a one-second pause, then a 22-second jolt at 480 volts. After a 20-second break, the cycle was repeated three more times.) Nebraska retains electrocution as its sole method of execution largely due to some strong anti-death penalty opposition in its state legislature; death penalty abolitionists in the state hope to see electrocution ruled as cruel and unusual punishment, leaving the state without a legal way of administering the death penalty if lethal injection is not legalized. However, many pro-death activists view the electric chair as being too humane.

Related Topics:
Cruel and unusual punishment - Death penalty

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