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Execution by electrocution, performed using an electric chair, is a method of execution originating in the United States in which the condemned person is strapped to a specially built wooden chair and electrocuted through electrodes fastened on the head and leg. This execution method, conceived in 1881 by a Buffalo, New York dentist named Alfred P. Southwick, was developed throughout the 1880s as a supposed humane alternative to hanging, and first used in 1890. This execution method has been used in the United States and for several decades in the Philippines. While death was originally theorized to result from damage to the brain, it was eventually shown in 1899 that it primarily results from ventricular fibrillation and eventual cardiac arrest.
Hanging is the suspension of a person by a noose or ligature around the neck. The Oxford English Dictionary states that hanging in this sense is "specifically to put to death by suspension by the neck", though it formerly also referred to crucifixion and death by impalement in which the body would remain "hanging". Hanging has been a common method of capital punishment since medieval times, and is the primary execution method in numerous countries and regions. The first known account of execution by hanging was in Homer's Odyssey. In this specialised meaning of the common word hang, the past and past participle is hanged instead of hung.
Capital punishment in the United Kingdom was used from ancient times until the second half of the 20th century. The last executions in the United Kingdom were by hanging, and took place in 1964, before capital punishment was suspended for murder in 1965 and finally abolished for murder in 1969. Although unused, the death penalty remained a legally defined punishment for certain offences such as treason until it was completely abolished in 1998. In 2004 the 13th Protocol to the European Convention on Human Rights became binding on the United Kingdom, prohibiting the restoration of the death penalty for as long as the UK is a party to the convention.
Capital punishment is a legal penalty in the United States, with it being a legal punishment in 28 states, American Samoa, the federal government, and the military. Its existence can be traced to the beginning of the American colonies. Along with Japan, Taiwan, and Singapore, the United States is one of four advanced democracies and the only Western nation that applies the death penalty regularly. It is one of 48 countries worldwide applying it, and was the first to develop lethal injection as a method of execution, which has since been adopted by five other countries. The Philippines has since abolished executions, and Guatemala has done so for civil offenses, leaving the United States as one of four countries to still use this method. In Singapore and Japan, executions are carried out by long drop hanging. In Taiwan, the preferred method of execution has long been by fatal gunshot; though never used, lethal injection was considered by authorities in the past and remains an option on the books. It is common practice worldwide for the condemned to be administered sedatives prior to execution, regardless of the method used.
Capital punishment was abolished via the legislative process on May 2, 2013 in the U.S. state of Maryland.
Capital punishment is a legal penalty under the U.S. military criminal justice system.
Capital punishment is a legal penalty in the state of Texas, part of the United States.
Capital punishment is a legal penalty in Singapore. It is applied in practice mainly for murder and drug-related crimes, as well as some firearm-related offences.
Capital punishment is a legal penalty in Iran. Crimes punishable by death include murder; rape; child molestation; pedophilia; drug trafficking; armed robbery; kidnapping; terrorism; burglary; incestuous relations; fornication; prohibited sexual relations; sodomy; homosexuality; sexual misconduct; prostitution; plotting to overthrow the Islamic regime; political dissidence; sabotage; arson; rebellion; apostasy; adultery; blasphemy; extortion; counterfeiting; smuggling; speculating; disrupting production; recidivist consumption of alcohol; producing or preparing food, drink, cosmetics, or sanitary items that lead to death when consumed or used; producing and publishing pornography; using pornographic materials to solicit sex; recidivist false accusation of capital sexual offenses causing execution of an innocent person; recidivist theft; certain military offenses ; "waging war against God"; "spreading corruption on Earth"; espionage; and treason. Iran carried out at least 977 executions in 2015, at least 567 executions in 2016, and at least 507 executions in 2017.
Capital punishment is a legal penalty in Iraq. It was commonly used by the government of Saddam Hussein, was temporarily halted after the US-led 2003 invasion of Iraq that deposed Hussein, and has since been reinstated. Iraqi law states that no person over the age of 70 can be executed; however there have been instances in which this provision was violated, such as Tariq Aziz, who was sentenced to death at the age of 74. There is a guaranteed right to appeal on all such sentences. Iraqi Law requires execution take place within 30 days of all legal avenues being exhausted. The last legal step, before the execution proceeds, is for the condemned to be handed a red card. This is completed by an official of the court with details of the judgment and a notice that execution is imminent.
Yakub Abdul Razzaq Memon was an Indian terrorist who was convicted over his involvement in the 1993 Bombay bombings by Special Terrorist and Disruptive Activities court on 27 July 2007. Yakub Memon was the brother of one of the prime suspects in the bombings, Tiger Memon. His appeals and petitions for clemency were all rejected and he was executed by hanging on 30 July 2015 in Nagpur jail.
Capital punishment in Michigan was legal from statehood in 1837 until it was abolished in 1847 for murder. Michigan is one of the few U.S. states never to have executed anyone following admission into the Union.
David Mitchell was a murderer who killed two German tourists in the Bahamas and was executed as a result. His is the most recent execution to be performed by the Bahamas.
Capital punishment is a legal penalty in South Korea. As of December 2012, there were at least 60 people in South Korea on death row. Executions are carried out by hanging.
Linda Anita Carty is a Kittitian-American former schoolteacher who is on death row in Texas. In February 2002, she was sentenced to death for the abduction and murder in 2001 of 25-year-old Joana Rodriguez in order to steal Rodriguez's newborn son. Carty claimed she was framed by her co-defendants who were drug dealers because she had previously been an informant in years past.
Charles Elroy Laplace was the most recent person executed by Saint Kitts and Nevis.
While laws regarding the imposition of capital punishment in the state of New York are still on the books, it is no longer enforced as it has been declared unconstitutional in the state and this ruling has not been overturned. The last execution took place in 1963, when Eddie Lee Mays was electrocuted at Sing Sing Prison. The state was the first to adopt the electric chair as a method of execution, which replaced hanging.
Fox v R is a 2002 Judicial Committee of the Privy Council (JCPC) case in which it was held that it was unconstitutional in Saint Kitts and Nevis for capital punishment to be the mandatory sentence for murder. The JCPC held that because the Constitution of Saint Kitts and Nevis prohibits "inhuman or degrading punishment", following a murder conviction, a trial judge must have discretion to impose a lesser penalty than death by hanging; capital punishment may be applied only in those cases that contain aggravating factors as compared to other murder cases.
Capital punishment is a legal penalty in the Federation of St. Kitts and Nevis, and is carried out by hanging at Her Majesty's Prison in Basseterre. The death penalty can only be applied for aggravated murder and treason.
References
- Hans Göran Franck, Klas Nyman, and William Schabas (2003). The Barbaric Punishment: Abolishing the Death Penalty (Leiden: Martinus Nijhoff Publishers ISBN 90-411-2151-X) p. 118
