Electrocution and the Electric Chair

The electric chair was introduced in the late nineteenth century as a supposedly more modern and humane replacement for hanging. New York built the first chair in 1888, and William Kemmler became the first person executed by electrocution in 1890. The method spread widely during the twentieth century before lethal injection displaced it as the dominant U.S. execution method.

How electrocution became a symbol of capital punishment

For decades the electric chair was one of the most recognizable images of the American death penalty. The prisoner is restrained in a specially designed chair and electrical current is passed through the body using electrodes attached to the head and leg. States developed different voltage cycles and procedures, but the underlying concept remained the same.

Botched electrocutions

The older Willie Francis case is even more important historically. Francis survived Louisiana's first attempt to execute him in 1946 after the electric-chair equipment malfunctioned. His case reached the U.S. Supreme Court in Louisiana ex rel. Francis v. Resweber, which allowed the state to attempt the execution again. Francis was executed in 1947.

Current role

Electrocution is no longer the sole method of execution in any U.S. state, but several states continue to authorize it as an alternative or selectable method. The legal details differ by state and sometimes depend on the date of the offense, the prisoner's election or whether another method is unavailable.

Why the method matters to

Electrocution creates a direct bridge between early twentieth-century execution history and the modern botched-execution debate. It also produces strong cross-links to prison facilities, state statutes, constitutional litigation and individual execution events.

Sources

– Death Penalty Information Center — Methods of Execution – Death Penalty Information Center — Execution Method Descriptions – Death Penalty Information Center — Authorized Methods by State