Why Did The United States Use The Electric Chair?

The Electric Chair was a form of cruel and unusual punishment. It was once the most used method of execution in the United States. In the early twentieth century is when the electric chair started to be used. It replaced hanging, firing squad, and beheading in that period of time (Juan). Some states are still using the Electric Chair, but we do not hear much about it. Dr. Albert Southwick, a dentists, was the one who invented the Electric Chair in 1881. Edwin R. Davis was commissioned to design a electric chair. His chair was fitted with two electrodes; they were composed of metal disks that were held together with rubber and covered with a damp sponge (“Electric Chair”). Brown was another person to design a Electric Chair. He went through everything he
could to design one. He had to get Thomas Edison’s help because Westinghouse would not sell Brown any of his equipment. Westinghouse wanted to ruin Brown’s plans to making one. Eventually Edison helped Brown get the equipment he needed and Brown succeeded and made his first electric chair (Brandon 107 108). 1888, the State Legislature passed the Electrical Execution Act. The best way to accomplish execution by electrocution was to strap the person into a chair to restrain him or her while electricity was going through their body. The idea of electrocution or any other execution method set out by the Eighth Amendment. (Legrum). The method of Rodgers 2 being electrocuted is not that pleasant. The head and legs of the person are shaved and strapped into the chair. A moist sponge is placed on the head. Usually while being electrocuted the eyeballs melt (Juan). One electrode is attached to the head and the second electrode to the leg to provide a closed circuit. There have been incidents of the chair breaking down after the jolt letting the prisoner wait on the floor while they fixed the chair. No matter how the execution was performed, cleaning up afterwards was not pretty at all. (“Electric Chair”). The first man that was executed by the electric chair was William Kemmler. He was convicted of murdering his lover. He was sent to Auburn basement. His arms, legs, and waist strapped with leather, his head was in a leather hardness covered with a black cloth covered over his head. Edwin Davis was the one who pulled the switch. Seven hundred volts flowed thorough Kemmler’s body. Seventeen seconds he remained in that condition. Kemmler did not die the first time while in the electric chair. They motioned to do it a second time. The second time being electrocuted, it lasted seventy seconds and smoked raised from the spinal electrode. New York Times explained, “The execution was an awful botch, Kemmler was literally roasted to death.” His execution became popular (“The Electric Chair”). Martha Place, was the first woman to be put in the Electric Chair. In New York, March 20, 1899 at Sing Sing prison. She was convicted for the murder of her stepdaughter. “Martha was clutching a Bible while being led to the death chamber,” gloated the National Police Gazette. Ruth Snyder was another woman to be executed. Rodgers 3
On January 12, 1928, She and her boyfriend were convicted of murdering her husband. She became famous photograph taken at the single momeny of her death. Tom Howard, a New York news photographer had attached a camera to his ankle and took a picture as she was being executed. May 2, 2002, Lynda Block was the last woman to be executed. She had murdered a police officer and was executed in the Holman Correctional Facility in Atmore, Alabama. (“The Electric Chair”). There is one way the Electric Chair is used, but many ways to kill.
There were times where things had gone wrong. When things did go wrong it was absolutely dramatic. At least five have went wrong since 1983. For example, Pedro Medina’s execution. Witnesses saw a blue and orange flame shoot six to ten inches out of his helmet and it had burned for ten seconds. Prison officials blamed it on the flared up on a corrode brass used in the helmet. The first high voltage shock is to destroy the brain. The person being executed is thought to be unconscious in 1/240 of a second. Being electrocuted causes full paralysim. The temperature in the body can raise up to about 138F. The second shock is to ensure the heart beat. The heat destroys the body’s proteins and bakes the organs. (“The Electric Chair”). The prisoner must have her or his head and one calf of a leg shaved, which permits better contact between the skin and the electrodes. At least two jolts of electrical current has to be applied for several minutes. Two thousands volts stops the heart beat and endures unconsciousness. Protocol calls for a jolt of 2,450 volts that will last for

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4 fifteen seconds, after fifteen minutes the prisoner is examined by a coroner. After twenty seconds they repeat the cycle three times (Juan). The use of the electric chair was declined. As legislatures thought what they believed that there are more humane methods of execution. Lethal injection became the most important method. United States Supreme Court never rendered a judgment to rather electrocution violates the Constitutions Eight Amendment. Prohibition of cruel and unusual punishment court challenges over the decades when Kemmler’s case began. It led most states to abandon electrocution. 1890 to 1972, electrocution was used in
4,251 executions, from 1976 through the early 21st century. It had used about 160 executions. The Electric Chair was not used outside of the Unites States (Denno). Nebraska, in 2010, was the last state to stop using the Electric Chair. Although some prisoners have the decision to pick which method they want to be done to them (Legum). William Kemmler’s execution attracted world wide attention and put a debate of a “subject” or “victim” of using the electric chair. Until then it remained theoretical (Brandon 109). It takes a brutal force to extinguish life from a body. Not many people have the potential to do that to a person. The Electric Chair is a very cruel and unusual punishment to be done to someone. Today it is rarely talked about because people do not believe a person should not get treated that badly. The electric chair might come back in the future. Though we do not know what could happen in the future. The future is unpredictable.