The state of Tennessee, a couple of days ago, passed some interesting legislation concerning their use of the death penalty—bringing back the Electric Chair, in case Lethal Injection drugs become unavailable.
That got me thinking—how much, exactly, has Electric Chair design progressed since the original Edison-produced model* of the 1880s? And more importantly, how might it be improved—to kill the condemned more quickly, or be more mechanically reliable, or even just to be more energy efficient (hey, it always pays to reduce your carbon footprint)?
And, most importantly, what kind of whimsical nickname might be the best to assign the updated machine, based on new design features and modern artistic trends?**
*Well, produced by Edison employees under his company’s auspices, to be pedantic.
**Note: Very possibly not the most important issue at all. I just couldn’t think of a better way to end the post.
Assuming you’re serious, probably by having a good computer program that would take as input the condemned’s size and shape (i.e. various body measurements), mass, fat and muscle content, probably age and state of health, measured skin resistance, et cetera, and then produce a prescription for voltage, current, and electrode placement. I gather the problem with screwed-up executions is that the particular person being electrocuted deviates from expectations of the characteristics of the human being as circuit element.
Di I understand correctly that screwed up executions come from not having enough electricity? As in, you expect a particular amount to be required but the executed requires more and so you get the unpleasantness of a drawn out execution?
Because if so, then the way to prevent botched executions lies in overkill, no? Use several times more than would be required to kill the hardiest human.
I presume this isn’t done because it might get unsavory for the witnesses and the janitor. What happens when a human body gets a lot of electricity going through it for a good amount of time? Melting, fire, something else?
I think the problem of the electric chair lies in the fact that if you go too high, the executed is reliably and quickly killed but it gets messy. If you go too low, the executed isn’t reliably and quickly killed. I guess it’s like hanging in that way; too short and the executed will suffer but it won’t get messy, too long and the executed won’t suffer but he can get decapitated.
Unsurprisingly, the death penalty has some strange mix of qualms and yearnings surrounding it.
Decrease the voltage, and use the appropriate # of amps. I think the chairs used something like 2,500 volts. Which just cooked people. Some low resistance system with only 60 volts but 20 or so amps…?
The American Humane Society says a bullet to the back of the head is the most humane form of euthanasia. I say listen to the experts.
That doesn’t work. The “resistance” of the guy being executed is part of the circuit, and it’s not going to be anywhere near as low as 2 ohms. At 240 volts it is going to be more like a few thousand ohms, which is why electric chairs typically use somewhere between 2,000 and 4,000 volts. You can’t just magically lower the resistance to 2 ohms. The human body doesn’t work that way.
You can try to fancy it up, but an electric chair cooks its victims to death, plain and simple. You could add some fancy digital controls to regulate the on and off cycle times and to give you a readout of the current and voltage applied so that it would know if it’s doing enough cooking, but the main working parts of it are dirt simple. I don’t see how you would even need a computer program to tell you where to place the electrodes. One goes on the head and the other goes at the other end, usually on one of the ankles. Everything in between gets cooked. The placement of the top electrode is perhaps a bit more critical, since you want to make sure that the first jolt of electricity fries the guy’s brain so that he doesn’t feel the rest of it, but otherwise the placement of the electrodes isn’t exactly rocket science. Top of the head, and somewhere down below. That’s it.
Dunno why this is in GQ, but my 2 cents is that it doesn’t need to be lethal. In lethal injections, one stage is to make the person go unconscious so that they don’t feel pain when the poison is injected. The electric chair could replace that stage, like how chickens are “humanely” slaughtered today. Give them the chair first, then guillotine them.
On the other hand, we certainly have the technology today to deliver far more voltage than 50 years ago, so who knows how fast a massive amount of electricity could kill someone. It’s possible that with enough voltage, a person could die in less than a second.
Did not think of that. And I suppose just stopping the heart with amperage would hurt anyways. So if massive voltage is required, Superhal’s seems sound, the more the better. Put them under some transmission lines on a nice sunny day and hook them up. 110kV. Instant cremation.
Much better than lethal injection. A bunch of prison orderlies messing around with needles and chemicals in some dank basement death room…
As a complete layman - I can’t understand why heroin, or some derivative opium based drug, could not be used to send the miscreant happily off to meet his maker (or whatever)
Overdosing on opiates is harder than it seems. Many people wake up after massive doses. And this who do die were usually drinking too. (Just throw a gallon of vodka and some full syringes into the cell?).
Phenobarbital is the best bet. The choice of veterinarians everywhere. Do not even need to find a vein, into the skin will work too. But the states all seem to insist on this three drug cocktail, because it stops the heart quicker. And now they cannot get the barbiturate component… They either need to start hiring horse vets to do the job, or go back to firing squad, or just forget it.
I suspect a lot of the problem is legislation. Why not use the same drugs they use for general anesthesia then electrocute them or whatever method you (or they) choose. I read that the date rape drugs are also pretty good at rendering someone unconscious.
Because the makers of an anaesthesia drugs don’t want to be associated with executions. That is the problem they are having now. Prisons can’t just use any drug they want, because no one will sell it to them.
It’s never going be made “modernized” enough to be a quasi-humane method of death using external contact. Some people due to peculiarities of physiology or going to stay conscious for long enough to experience an unbelievable amount of pain. Even implanted electrodes to the heart won’t make it better- would make it worse since the victim would experience the pain of a heart attack. The only location where implanted electrodes would knock out the victim is inside the skull. And drilling burr holes and all that is requires a trained surgeon who cannot participate due to AMA rules.
Forget electrocution.
Hanging and firing squad work the most reliably with the least protracted pain.
It cannot be stated strongly enough: There were many botched lethal injection executions before the current shortage of drugs started. This played a part in the reduced availability of such drugs. Not the other way around. Too many people, especially of the type likely to be sentenced to death, have vein issues, weird drug resistances, etc. It is just not reliable.
Other than being grisly as hell, the guillotine can’t be beat in speed and effectiveness. We’ll never know what the condemned feels, but it can’t last more than a few seconds.
Why hanging or the firing squad? I’d say the guillotine. With a heavy enough blade dropping far enough I don’t see how it’s even possible to make a mistake with that one.
I mean, there are unsavory associations, and it’s messy. But it’s also quick and practically foolproof.