# What's the point of death by electrocution?

**URL:** <https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-the-point-of-death-by-electrocution/253599>\
**Category:** Factual Questions\
**Created:** [July 5, 2004, 4:48am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-the-point-of-death-by-electrocution/253599 "2004-07-05T04:48:33Z")\
**Posts on this page:** 4\
**Page:** 4

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**Author:** ![wolf\_meister](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/wolf_meister/32/15202_2.png) [@wolf\_meister](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/wolf_meister)\
**Post date:** [July 19, 2004, 4:36am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-the-point-of-death-by-electrocution/253599/61 "2004-07-19T04:36:09Z")

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LOL **rippington**  
For someone who is against the death penalty you seem to have come up with a fool-proof, never fail, 100% guaranteed method of putting it into practice.

Incidentally, I am in favor of the death penalty. This is not the forum to discuss it, but it is acceptable (I think) to at least _state but not debate_ one’s opinion(s) in General Questions.

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**Author:** ![PaulFitzroy](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/2acd7d/32.png) [@PaulFitzroy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/PaulFitzroy)\
**Post date:** [July 19, 2004, 4:44am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-the-point-of-death-by-electrocution/253599/62 "2004-07-19T04:44:16Z")

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Man, how did this old-ass thread wind up getting revived?

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**Author:** ![flight](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/bbce88/32.png) [@flight](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/flight)\
**Post date:** [July 26, 2004, 4:25am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-the-point-of-death-by-electrocution/253599/63 "2004-07-26T04:25:53Z")

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Now that I see this again, may I recommend the excellent book by a friend of my girlfriend, Mark Essig’s **Edison and the Electric Chair A Story of Light and Death**.

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**Author:** ![danceswithcats](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/9e8a1a/32.png) [@danceswithcats](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/danceswithcats)\
**Post date:** [July 26, 2004, 5:06am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-the-point-of-death-by-electrocution/253599/64 "2004-07-26T05:06:12Z")

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Recalling a story my Dad told me: He was chatting with a supervisor during ground clearing for aerial transmission construction (Dad was an engineer for a power company) and one of the crew mishandled a tree limb. Joe went into the chipper and was gone in less than 2 seconds. :eek:

Modify the old hanging platform, and let the trap door drop the guilty party into a running chipper. Bet you could sell the heck out of that on pay-per-view.

Yes, since you asked, I am in favor of capital punishment, just with fewer appeals.

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