Electrocution
Electrocution was the option discovered and pursued after seeking a more humane method of execution contrary to the method of hanging. It was first suggested in 1881 by a dentist, Albert Southwick. New York's Electrical Execution Law went into effect. The following year, the first execution by electrocution in history was carried out at Auburn Prison in New York against William Kemmler who had been convicted of murdering his lover, Matilda Ziegler, with an axe. The last state to rely on electrocution as their sole form of punishment, Nebraska, banned it in 2008. It was ruled as unconstitutional due to the 8th amendment which protects citizens from any form of cruel and unusual punishment. To this day 8 states (Alabama, Arkansas, Florida, Kentucky, Oklahoma, South Carolina, Tennessee, and Virginia) allow this form of execution through capital punishment.
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"...the prisoner's eyeballs sometimes pop out and rest on [his] cheeks. The prisoner often defecates, urinates, and vomits blood and drool. The body turns bright red as its temperature rises, and the prisoner's flesh swells and his skin stretches to the point of breaking. Sometimes the prisoner catches fire....Witnesses hear a loud and sustained sound like bacon frying, and the sickly sweet smell of burning flesh permeates the chamber. (Ecenbarger, 1994)"
Lethal Injection
Like the electrocution method, the first proposal for using injection as a form of capital punishment came towards the later year of the 19th century, when a New York commission was in search of an execution more humane and civilized than hanging. Finally in 1977 Oklahoma was the first state to adopt lethal injection as their execution method, although it wasn't until 5 years later when it was carried out against Charles Brook. Today it is used in all 32 states that allow the death penalty and is their primary form of execution.
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The condemned person is usually bound to a gurney and a member of the execution team positions several heart monitors on this skin. Needles then are inserted into a vein of the inmate. The first is a harmless saline solution that is started immediately. At a given signal, a curtain is raised exposing the condemned to the witnesses. Next, the inmate is injected with sodium thiopental - an anesthetic, which puts the inmate to sleep. Next flows pavulon or pancuronium bromide, which paralyzes the entire muscle system and stops the inmate's breathing. Finally, the flow of potassium chloride stops the heart. Death results from anesthetic overdose and respiratory and cardiac arrest while the condemned person is unconscious.
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"As he was gasping his last breath, [his sister] went pretty hysterical, screaming and moaning and sobbing uncontrollably. she was flailing around and it caused her to thump her head up against the glass and the wall. she started screaming 'john! john!,' she was imploring him to wake up. i tried to imagine what it would be like to watch my brother be executed…"
Death By Hanging
Death by hanging was the first primary form of execution in the United States and was so until the late 1800s when electrocution was introduced. The day before a hanging would take place, there would be a practice "run through" and weighing of the prisoner to ensure the drop is the correct length. If the rope is too long the prisoner could possibly be decapitated, and if the rope is too short the process of strangulation could take up to 45 minutes. The knot is lubricated with wax or soap "to ensure a smooth sliding action." The rope, being 3/4" to 1 1/4" in diameter, has to be boiled and stretched to eliminate spring or coiling. Today Washington, Delaware, and New Hampshire are the only states that allow hanging as a form of execution.
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"I can't imagine hanging being an option in america. it's not right. it's not american"
Lethal Gas
Execution by the agent of cyanide gas was first introduced in 1924 in Nevada. The first person to experience this fate was Gee Jon after being convicted of murdering a rival gang member. The stater attempted pumping the gas into the cell he stayed in, but found that it leaked from his cell. They had to temporarily create a area to pump gas into without it escaping which they will call the Gas Chamber. During a lethal gas execution, the prisoner is sealed in an airtight chamber and either potassium cyanide or sodium cyanide is dropped into a pan of hydrochloric acid which reacts to produce hydrocyanic gas. To this day 4 states (Arizona, California, Missouri, and Wyoming) as a form of execution.
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"May god forgive all involved"
Fire Squad
During death by firing squad, the convicted is bound to a chair with leather straps across his waist and head, in front of an oval-shaped canvas wall. The chair is surrounded by sandbags to absorb the inmate's blood. The inmate is also blindfolded with rather a cloth or hood. A doctor locates the heart of the inmate and lays a white cloth target over it. Standing 20 feet away, shooters are armed with .30 caliber rifles loaded with single rounds. They aim for the heart, but if missed the prisoner will bleed to death. This method is presently an option available in the state of Utah.
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"In that fraction of a second my eyes were in transit, I heard "boom boom." The sounds were as close together as you could spew them from your mouth."