Capital Punishment. Capital Punishment Or Most Commonly

Capital punishment in America developed as a result of the influence of the British when they settled in America. They brought with them the laws that include capital punishment. The earliest form of death penalty ever recorded was that of Captain Georg Kendall in the year 1608 in Jamestown Colony, Virginia. Kendall’s execution was attributed to his being a spy of Spain. Captain Georg Kendall was a member of the first council that was appointed in Jamestown in Virginia colony. In that year, he was executed by a firing squad making him the first person to have ever been sentenced to death in the United states.

chest. The electric chair is when the chair gives off 2300 volts for about ten seconds. Then there is a low voltage of 1000, which goes on for about twenty seconds. But the murderer is usually dead by the first ten seconds. Lethal Gas is now only used in California

The execution style of the electric chair was first used on convicted murderer William Francis Kemmler on August 6th, 1890. The use of electricity is a more modern style of execution. The idea of using electricity to end someone's life was invented to seek a more “humane” method rather than lynching people. Once Kemmler was executed in New York, other states at the time rapidly adopted this new style of execution. It was used up until 2008 by Nebraska until the Supreme Court ruled that the use of the electric chair was “unconstitutional.” For execution using the electric chair, the criminal is usually shaved and placed in a chair with belts that cross his/her chest, groin, legs, and arms. Then, a metal cap shaped like a skull, electrode is attached to the head and a sponge moistened with saline. However, the sponge cannot be too wet or the saline short-circuits the electric current, and cannot be too dry, because then it would have a high resistance. Next, an additional electrode is moistened with electro-creme (conductive jelly) and is then attached to the victim’s leg that was shaved to reduce the resistance of electricity. The prisoner is then blindfolded. A perfect example of how the electric chair works is depicted in The Green Mile. Although it does succeed in killing the criminal, the use of electricity is considered inhumane and the victim takes a while to die. While using the electric chair may not be the best way of executing a criminal, in case of a state or government not being able to obtain lethal injection, the electric chair could be brought back again for

Furthermore, in the 1830s and 1840s capital punishment was targeted nationwide (Henderson, 9). The movement against the death penalty sought to “halt public executions” (Henderson, 9). Public executions at the time were widely attended and seen as a form of entertainment (Henderson, 9). The most popular form of execution at this time (and still today in some countries) was hanging (Beliveau, 202). Although this type of execution was common when carrying out the death sentence, it was not always the most humane. Beliveau claims that “contrary to what is often believed, in the majority of cases it is not the blocking of air entering the lungs that causes death” (202). In addition, the most common types of hanging were short-drop hanging and long-drop hanging (Beliveau, 203-4). Short-drop hanging was the more common of the two and had similar effects to dying by strangulation whereas long-drop hanging was created with the intent of executing someone in a more humane way (Beliveau, 203-4). Other methods of capital punishment include decapitation, lethal injection, electrocution, gas chamber, hanging, firing squad (Denver et al).

The United State has long history of death penalty, United State 's use of the death penalty over the past four centuries. In August 1890, American was walking up to the power of twentieth- century technology, to the first light bulbs, automobiles, photographic, telephones. In the basement of Auburn State Penitentiary in upstate New York, a man named William Kemmler is bound to a chair with heavy leather stripes. Kemmler who had been convicted of murdering his Lovers, Matilda Ziegler, with and axe, his execution was the first execution by electrocution in history.

They thought execution by gas chamber was a more humane way of executing prisoners. Only five states authorize lethal gas as a method of execution, but all have lethal injection as a secondary option. The inmate is strapped to a chair in an airtight chamber. Below the chair rests a bucket of sulfuric acid. A long stethoscope is usually attached to the inmate so that a doctor on the outside the chamber can pronounce death. When everyone has left the chamber, it is sealed. The warden gives a signal to the executioner who turns on a lever that releases crystals of sodium cyanide into the bucket. This causes a chemical reaction that releases hydrogen cyanide gas. The prisoner is told to breathe deeply to speed up the process. The inmate does not lose consciousness immediately. According to former San Quenton, California, Penitentiary warden, Clifton Duffy, "At first there is evidence of extreme horror, pain, and strangling. The eyes pop. The skin turns purple and the victim begins to drool." The feeling is similar to the pain felt by a person during a heart attack, where essentially the heart is being deprived of oxygen." The inmate dies from hypoxia, the cutting-off of oxygen to the brain. At postmortem, an fan removes the poison air out of the chamber, and the corpse is sprayed with ammonia to neutralize any remaining traces of cyanide. Half an hour later, nurses enter the chamber, wearing gas masks and rubber gloves.

they allowed the electric chair and in other states they use lethal injections. Only four states;

Whenever Capital Punishment was legal people started to use drugs to stop a person’s heart instead of some of the other methods that were used. Some of the other methods that were used were electrocution, a firing squad, a gas chamber, and hanging. A firing squad and hanging are no longer allowed in the United States. Electrocution, lethal injection, and the use of a gas chamber are all allowed in the United States. Prisoners are allowed to decide between the methods they can die from. Since 1973, 153 people have been exonerated from death, (Death Penalty Information Center

Capital Punishment: the American justice system’s legalized method of executing the inhumane. Capital punishment has been an undertaking of mankind evolving since ancient times. While the barbaric methods of earlier civilization have ceased, particular historical cases of capital punishment have unintentionally involved a painful degree of torture. As of modern day, the electric chair is one of America’s most ‘hair-raising’ and objectionable forms of execution brought to light. This is what I will be focusing on for my history project. More specifically, I will be looking into the history of the electric chair including its invention and first ever recorded trials. This heavier topic sheds light onto American capital punishment using gruesome

There are many methods of execution that have been used throughout the years. The most popular have been lethal injection, electrocution, and hanging. The lethal injection is the newest method of execution, and quickly became the most popular one. In 1982 the United States became the first country to use the lethal injection to carry out capital punishment. Lethal injection machine exist, and they were used by several states once, but now most states now opt to perform the injections manually due to the fear of mechanical failure. Electrocution was a popular form of capital punishment in 1880’s. In 1889, William Kemmler was sentenced to death, in Auburn Prison's electric chair, first in the country. Hanging was the primary method of execution

Since the 1700s, the death penalty has been a form of punishment nearly 16,000 times, although there were no executions between 1967 and 1977 when the death penalty was resumed after a Supreme Court ruling (Wilson, 2014). The methods used throughout the U. S. history has included hanging, firing squad, burning, gas chamber, lethal injection, electrocution, and the gas chamber. The gas chamber, hanging and firing squad however, are not the only options in the states where it is still available (Death Penalty Information Center, 2011).

A metal skullcap-shaped electrode is placed tightly to the scalp and forehead over a sponge moistened with saline (The sponge must not be too wet or the saline short-circuits the electric current, and not too dry, as it would then have a very high resistance) to endure electrocution. An extra cathode is moistened with conductive jelly (Electro-Creme) and asserted as a portion of the prisoner's leg that has been shaved to reduce resistance from electricity and then the prisoner is then blindfolded. After the team, has left the observation room, the chief signals the executioner, who then pulls a handle to link the power supply to a jolt of between 500 and 2000 volts, that last for about 30 seconds. Gas Chamber is the third method used in states for the death penalty. The inmate is strapped down to a chair in an airtight chamber. Located under the chair is a pail of sulfuric acid connected to a long stethoscope to the inmate. Once the inmate is cleared for the gas, the executioner flicks a lever that will release crystals of sodium cyanide into the pail under the chair. Firing Squad is the least method used in states for the death penalty. Usually the inmate is bound to a seat with straps across the waist and head, while in front of an oval-shaped canvas wall. The chair is grounded by sandbags to captivate the inmate's blood during the

The Death Penalty’s history dates all the way back to Eighteenth Century B.C. in the Code of King Hammurabi of Babylon. This document codified the death penalty, along with all of the other laws of the land and their punishments, making it available for all citizens to comprehend and understand. The executions were carried out by means of crucifixion, drowning, beating to death, burning alive, and impalement. Hanging became the normal way of execution in the Tenth Century A.D. in Britain. William the Conqueror would not let hanging be a way of execution only in times of war. Under the reign of Henry VIII in the Sixteenth Century, it is said that an estimate of

Crystals of sodium cyanide are then dropped into the pail which causes a reaction to occur and release hydrogen cyanide. In this case, the inmate dies from lack of oxygen to their brain. Additionally, the inmate can be killed by a firing squad. In this instance, like every other, the inmate is strapped to a chair. A doctor locates his or her heart and marks it with a target. Then, five shooters fire at the target, killing him or her from blood loss. The last method is hanging. A noose is put around the prisoners neck as they stand above a trap door. Once the door is opened, the prisoner falls and their weight causes their neck to fracture, but they do not die instantaneously, the death comes from the slow suffocation. All of these methods are cruel punishments.

At present there are five methods of execution. The most commonly used form of execution is by lethal injection. In this method the convict is first injected with sodium thiopental, which puts the person to sleep, then he/she is injected with Pavulon, which finally kills him. [1] The next most common method of execution used is electrocution in which the person is tied with leather straps to a chair and electric current of two thousand or more volts is passed through the body. The initial shock of the electricity causes the person’s body to surge forward. The shock burns the internal organs of the person, which leaves them dead. During this process urination, vomiting of blood, change in skin color, and even swelling or burning of the skin may occur. This method of execution is currently used by only eleven states. The third method is gas chamber execution in which hydrochloric acid and potassium is used to kill the convict. One of oldest methods of executions is hanging and last method is by shooting. All the five methods are inhumane and cruel. The convict dies within a few seconds. He never gets the time to realize his mistake, repent over it or to correct it. Killing that person