# Why are death sentences carried out at such weird hours? **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [December 1, 2005, 8:19pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-are-death-sentences-carried-out-at-such-weird-hours/333606 "2005-12-01T20:19:41Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 13\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![biddee](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/839c29/32.png) [@biddee](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/biddee)\ **Post date:** [December 1, 2005, 8:19pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-are-death-sentences-carried-out-at-such-weird-hours/333606/1 "2005-12-01T20:19:41Z")
From [this](http://news.yahoo.com/news?tmpl=story&cid=578&u=/nm/20051201/ts_nm/crime_execution_dc_6) news story: > [@](#): > > If the governor does not intervene, Boyd will be strapped to a gurney shortly before 2 a.m. EST on Friday and given an opportunity to make a last statement. Why 2am? Is there something special about the middle of the night? Is it so that his screams don’t disturb the other prisoners? What? ---
**Author:** ![Bill\_The\_Cat](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/ba8739/32.png) [@Bill\_The\_Cat](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bill_The_Cat)\ **Post date:** [December 1, 2005, 8:23pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-are-death-sentences-carried-out-at-such-weird-hours/333606/2 "2005-12-01T20:23:21Z")
> [@biddee](#): > > Why 2am? The criminal’s last chance for clemency expires at midnight (which opens another set of questions 😛 ), so I have always assumed that once the final decision has been made, they do the deed as quickly as possible. ---
**Author:** ![Muad\_Dib](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/35a633/32.png) [@Muad\_Dib](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Muad_Dib)\ **Post date:** [December 1, 2005, 8:23pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-are-death-sentences-carried-out-at-such-weird-hours/333606/3 "2005-12-01T20:23:31Z")
> [@biddee](#): > > From [this](http://news.yahoo.com/news?tmpl=story&cid=578&u=/nm/20051201/ts_nm/crime_execution_dc_6) news story: > > Why 2am? Is there something special about the middle of the night? Is it so that his screams don’t disturb the other prisoners? What? I forget the specifics of it, but it has become a tradition to execute at such hours so as to limit the specticale of it. This started happening when executions were no longer made public. ---
**Author:** ![plnnr](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/7ea924/32.png) [@plnnr](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/plnnr)\ **Post date:** [December 1, 2005, 8:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-are-death-sentences-carried-out-at-such-weird-hours/333606/4 "2005-12-01T20:57:59Z")
> [@Muad'Dib](#): > > I forget the specifics of it, but it has become a tradition to execute at such hours so as to limit the specticale of it. This started happening when executions were no longer made public. That may have been the rationale, but it didn’t work. I used to live around the corner from the VA State Penitentiary (when it was actually located in Richmond on Belvedere and Spring Streets) and it never failed that there was a crowd on execution nights. ---
**Author:** ![Fear\_Itself](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/fear_itself/32/19637_2.png) [@Fear\_Itself](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Fear_Itself)\ **Post date:** [December 1, 2005, 9:00pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-are-death-sentences-carried-out-at-such-weird-hours/333606/5 "2005-12-01T21:00:50Z")
Perhaps it began with the electric chair. They drew so much current, the only time enough was guaranteed to be available was in the middle of the night. ---
**Author:** ![Cunctator](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/43a26b/32.png) [@Cunctator](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Cunctator)\ **Post date:** [December 1, 2005, 9:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-are-death-sentences-carried-out-at-such-weird-hours/333606/6 "2005-12-01T21:28:40Z")
Perhaps it’s simply not to prolong the wait any longer for the condemned man. I don’t suppose he’d get a lot of sleep on his final night anyway. ---
**Author:** ![biddee](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/839c29/32.png) [@biddee](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/biddee)\ **Post date:** [December 1, 2005, 9:36pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-are-death-sentences-carried-out-at-such-weird-hours/333606/7 "2005-12-01T21:36:49Z")
> [@Fear Itself](#): > > Perhaps it began with the electric chair. They drew so much current, the only time enough was guaranteed to be available was in the middle of the night. Didn’t think of this one! I think that all the reasons given are pretty valid, but this is probably the one that sounds the most logical to me. Seems quite silly to carry on the tradition now that the electric chair is no longer in use. ---
**Author:** ![alphaboi867](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/alphaboi867/32/3898_2.png) [@alphaboi867](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/alphaboi867)\ **Post date:** [December 1, 2005, 9:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-are-death-sentences-carried-out-at-such-weird-hours/333606/8 "2005-12-01T21:51:14Z")
> [@Muad'Dib](#): > > I forget the specifics of it, but it has become a tradition to execute at such hours so as to limit the specticale of it. This started happening when executions were no longer made public. Not to mention that at 2:00 AM all the other inmates are in their cells. Waiting till lights out reduces the risk of a riot. ---
**Author:** ![FordPrefect](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/e99b99/32.png) [@FordPrefect](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/FordPrefect)\ **Post date:** [December 1, 2005, 9:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-are-death-sentences-carried-out-at-such-weird-hours/333606/9 "2005-12-01T21:52:27Z")
Maybe nobody wants to die after a Last Breakfast. ---
**Author:** ![Annie-Xmas](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/ecc23a/32.png) [@Annie-Xmas](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Annie-Xmas)\ **Post date:** [December 1, 2005, 9:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-are-death-sentences-carried-out-at-such-weird-hours/333606/10 "2005-12-01T21:57:25Z")
> [@biddee](#): > > Didn’t think of this one! I think that all the reasons given are pretty valid, but this is probably the one that sounds the most logical to me. Seems quite silly to carry on the tradition now that the electric chair is no longer in use. Really? Tell that to Jeb Bush ---
**Author:** ![Enola\_Straight](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/dec6dc/32.png) [@Enola\_Straight](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Enola_Straight)\ **Post date:** [December 1, 2005, 9:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-are-death-sentences-carried-out-at-such-weird-hours/333606/11 "2005-12-01T21:58:07Z")
> [@Fear Itself](#): > > Perhaps it began with the electric chair. They drew so much current, the only time enough was guaranteed to be available was in the middle of the night. I’m fairly certain that ECs were powered by an on-site generator, and not hooked up the the grid. ---
**Author:** ![ScoobyTX](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/ec9cab/32.png) [@ScoobyTX](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ScoobyTX)\ **Post date:** [December 1, 2005, 10:29pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-are-death-sentences-carried-out-at-such-weird-hours/333606/12 "2005-12-01T22:29:46Z")
> [@Fear Itself](#): > > Perhaps it began with the electric chair. They drew so much current, the only time enough was guaranteed to be available was in the middle of the night. According to this [list of specs](http://www.angelfire.com/fl3/starke/electricity.html) for the Tennessee electric chair, the power requirements are 208V, 75 amps (15.5kVA), which isn’t much- about double the load of an air conditioning unit for a good sized home (i.e., two 5 ton AC condensing units). That kind of load would be relatively insignificant compared to other loads in a large facility like a prison. ---
**Author:** ![Nametag](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/nametag/32/406_2.png) [@Nametag](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Nametag)\ **Post date:** [December 1, 2005, 10:54pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-are-death-sentences-carried-out-at-such-weird-hours/333606/13 "2005-12-01T22:54:17Z")
> [@Annie-Xmas](#): > > Really? Tell that to Jeb Bush Jeb Bush is getting the chair? Man, I didn’t even know election fraud was a capital offense! Sorry, sorry…