When Stephens’ body was checked, the doctors concluded that he was indeed still alive. The execution was then repeated. Halfway through the proceedings however, Stephens was still moving his head from side to side, and he still appeared to be breathing. After the second two-minute jolt of electricity, something was clearly wrong with the machine, and an official ordered that the sponges and connectors be checked, to make sure everything was in order. Five minutes after this, Stephens finally died. His death took fourteen minutes in total! Is this really a short, painless death? I think not. A lingering, inhumane death? Yes. A death filled with anguish and distress, pain and agony, torture and bodily disfiguration. Since the invention of the electric chair, it has offered a gruesome form of capital punishment, with a series of incomplete, messy killings in the name of “justice”. It is thought that the electric chair was ‘born’ from a quarrel between Thomas Edison and George Westinghouse in the early days of the electric industry. Edison favoured direct current, while Westinghouse favoured alternating current. Edison, in an attempt to destroy Westinghouse, toured the country electrocuting small animals using alternating current, to exhibit the supposed dangers of Westinghouse’s method. The demonstrations inspired criminal justice officials, and in 1886, the New York State Government set up a legislative commission to study humane forms of capital punishment, including death by electrocution. 300 methods were considered, most of them far worse than the electric chair. These alternative methods included hanging, exposure to wild serpents, bisection, garrotting, crushing with weights, suffocation and beheading. If the electric chair had not been chosen as the new form of execution, then perhaps a far worse form of execution would have been in use today. Nevertheless, it is necessary to stop the use of the electric chair, due to the numerous malfunctions that occur, the bodily mutation and extreme pain. It is simply unconstitutional in the society in which we live in today. On June 4th, 1888, the New York Legislature enacted a law, making electrocution the state’s new method of execution. It was powered by AC voltage as this was found to kill more swiftly than DC voltage. The first state to use the electric chair as a form of execution was New York, and the first person to die in the electric chair was William Kemmler, a convicted killer. On August 6th, 1890 at Auburn State Prison, the horrific procedure was carried out. The execution required two lengthy bursts of current to kill the man, and the room filled with smoke from his charred brain and body. By the end of the electrocution, the Attorney General had fainted, due to the sheer stench of the burning flesh on the man. Despite the shocking and ghastly scenes that had occurred, by the 1920’s, over 20 states were using the electric chair. Only two states in the United States of America still use the electric chair as a form of corporal punishment- Nebraska and Alabama. However, surely in the 21st century, our society has evolved social standards of decency, for which the electric chair does not fit. After all, hanging was thought outdated and inhumane for a growing state in the 20th century, and now, the electric chair is seen to be obsolete in the 21st century. The electric chair does inflict unnecessary wanton pain on those who sit in, and is therefore defeating the purpose for which it was created for- a quick and painless death. For these reasons, I feel that the electric chair should be completely abolished from every part of the world. Already, the electric chair has claimed over 4000 lives in just over a century. How many of those people actually died a “painless” death I wonder. An added problem with the electric chair is the effect it has on the staff that must carry out the procedures. Reginald Wilkinson, director of the state prison system, said that, “ The probability of something going wrong and inducing more stress on staff is more likely with electrocutions.” The staff that must carry out the electrocutions, could become psychologically damaged by implementing the procedures, and by the horrific scenes that they would see. At present, the lethal injection has replaced the electric chair in many parts of America. This probably has less damaging effects on the staff, but whether this form of execution is painless is debatable. Americans spend so much money on finding various ways to ease the last moments of criminals on death row, without questioning whether these killings might be just another form of murder, comparable to the crimes of those put to death. The fact that the electric chair is only in use in two states in America, does show that the electric chair is slowly being faded out as a form of capital punishment, however, only until it has been completely rid from society, will the inhumane executions no longer occur.
