For the man in the chair, it's considerably past traumatic.

One wonders if "the man in the chair" ever considered how traumatic murder would be for his victim.

I get tired of all the murder-protectors sobbing about this method or that method. Personally, I prefer this method. Neat, clean, no electrictity and no fuss. Properly performed, it is quick and painless. Until we get the knack of it again, we could hire the Singaporeans to do ours for us.

It's absolutely Orwellian how the bleeding-hearts attempt to recast the murderer as the victim, somehow.

We should drop the electric chair......and replace it with burning at the stake!

Getting rid of the electric chair is a tough decision. We really need more facts in resolving this issue.

Only one killer at a time can sit in the electric chair which is an obvious design flaw. Some wags have suggested allowing another killer sit in the first killers lap for a twofer. Now I like that idea and it certainly has it's merits. Yet, others have made the suggestion of electric bleachers. Yes, electric bleachers is the best idea for replacing the electric chair. No longer will killers be crammed into tiny cells on death row just waiting for their chance to sit in a solitary electric chair. Now all their killer friends and neighbors can go with them.

For a change, I find myself in agreement with an article everyone else here is likely to attack. The electric chair should be done away with.

I can think of at least three methods of execution that produce nearly instantaneous brain death, and electrocution isn't one of them. Hanging, beheading, and a heavy-caliber pistol shot to the head will all extinguish consciousness much more quickly than electrocution. I don't know enough about the gas chamber or the drug methods currently in use to comment on them.

Add to this that the electric chair is mistake-prone in ways a gun or the guillotine is not. There have been some grisly cases of supposedly executed men reviving after being removed from the chair.

Considering how many lives have been ended by the chair, I'd like to be wrong about this. Though some might have a visceral desire to make heinous criminals suffer, the idea that we're doing so has actually retarded the course of justice over the past thirty years, by fueling resistance to execution generally. Does anyone have a good counter-argument?

Freedom, Wealth, and Peace,
Francis W. Porretto
Visit the Palace Of Reason: http://palaceofreason.com

In theory, it's so fast the condemned can't perceive it- the charge is supposed to pass thru the brain & central nervous system, instantaneously depolarizing it, stopping the heart & respiration, and anything left functioning is autonomic responses.

That said, considering how many people have survived million-plus volt lightning strikes, I have reservations about how humane a 2,200 volt charge is.

Maybe we ought to use a low-tech solution:

This is the world's most pretentious vanity website, owned and operated by the God of Reason himself.

Get ready to be pounded to death by the red meat law and order types. "Dammit, execution ought to be as grisly as possible! Serves the blighters right." (I'd argue for making it PUBLIC. If it had to happen on nationwide TV at noon we'd soon see the entire public engaged with a matter that most of them wish would go away where they can't see it.)

Of course not, never. You can say one thing about the electric chair, 'ols "SPARKY' has done its job well. As for the person being sapped? No pain, all he hears is 'ping'.

"...I can think of at least three methods of execution that produce nearly instantaneous brain death, and electrocution isn't one of them. Hanging, beheading, and a heavy-caliber pistol shot to the head will all extinguish consciousness much more quickly than electrocution..."

I read once that during the frenzy of beheadings that occurred in France during 'The Terror' that some executioners would quickly snatch the freshly severed heads of the condemned from the basket, holding them by their hair, and display them like trophies to the crowd.

On some occasions the heads were even abused, by slapping or spitting in their faces, and there were apocryphal reports that -in some cases- the heads briefly displayed expressions of anger.

The ability to remain at least briefly conscious after a dramatic loss of blood pressure has been clearly demonstrated by some people who have been seriously wounded in traumatic accidents. Since beheading, properly done, doesn't destroy the brain outright it's reasonable to ask whether there remains (at least for some) a brief interlude of consciousness after head and body part company.

I suppose we could attach electrodes and other sensors to a condemned man (or woman's) head and then behead them. But this would be approximate data. We could never be 100% certain those tracings and read-outs mean.

The only sure way to know 'for sure' would be for a team of medical researchers to quickly take custody of the head and put it on life support, as in the deliciously horrible cult classic 'They Saved Hitler's Brain'.

Then we'd know... for sure.

Of course, you'd probably need a second murder conviction and death warrant, to execute the head later on. And I'm fairly sure that you'd want to execute the head, especially if the trauma it suffered had left it a little 'off'.

Personally, I don't give a rats a$$ how it's done as long as the method is reliable. Rather than Clintons hate crime bill, a national death penalty should have been passed, across the board... every state in the union. I remember the last time they used “Old Sparky” ln CT. A dude called Taborsky liked robbing mom & pop stores and gas stations. Getting the money was first. Blowing the proprietor away was second. They called him the “Mad Dog Killer”. That was almost 40 years ago. In MA, where I live now, we recently had a nurse at a veterans hospital, Kristin Gilbert, euthanizing patients. The prosecution proved that she rubbed out at least 3 with over-doses of heart medication. Her lawyers said she was just trying to end the pain of the old gentlemen... that was untill they found out she tried to do it to a vet in his mid 40's! That 16 year old down in FL, Nathan Brazil, was sentenced to 16-30 for shooting his teacher in the forhead at school. The kid leveled the pistol at the guys head, waited a second or two and blew him away. This piece of $hit will be out before he's thirty to kill again! The bottom line is there is no life in prison without parole. They must be put down.

Why not a firing squad?

Winston Churchill once said, "There is no good way to kill a man." No matter what means is used someone will find fault with the death penalty.

I prefer this method. [The Noose]

Methinks he wants a dose of hemp. I'm a traditionalist too. I'm also in favor of public hangings. The justice must not only operate, it must be seen to operate. There are a great number of murders committed in this country because the criminals do not fear the law.

Are a couple of thousand volts of electricity really the issue? I can see the ACLU and Amnesty International have a problem with any execution method. As long as they're taken care of most people have no qualms about the method involved. The reason is that when the ACLU and AI have a conniption about the electric chair its downright dishonest for them to complain about how cruel and inhumane it is since they're not acknowledging the fact that all those on Death Row were sent there for a good reason. I've never understood why bleeding heart liberals spend so much time and energy fighting to keep murderers alive. There are so many good causes in this world they could be fighting for and believe me I don't think getting rid of the electric chair is one of them. Besides I think a murderer deserves to suffer as much as his victim or else if we make it too bloodless and pain free its not exactly a punishment that fits the crime. If it were entirely up to me a murderer's final moments on this earth should make him afraid to really die. That's the very least we should expect if we want capital punishment to be a deterrent against future acts of inhuman savagery.

Hey backhoe. Here's a cute, little tidbit about the guillotines used during the French revolution. Because they were hauling up the carts one after the other to the platforms, the blades dulled quickly, making for a sloppy, sometimes half-completed job. The accused who had a couple of francs in his/her pocket would tip the executioner to get a shapened blade. Deaths little pleasures!

Dull guillotine blades? Ow!

I understand when the NAZI's occupied France, they used it face up..... wonder if that's one of those ancient Urban Legends, or a fact?

The purpose of the death penalty should be to erase the entity from the face of the planet. To advocate torture is to scuttle any chance of a nationwide death penalty law. In fact, it brings up the issue of who is more evil... the killer or the killee.

Give the condemned his or her choice among lethal injection, the firing squad, hanging, or the guillotine. I would eliminate the gas chamber and the electric chair due to their complexity and the information in this article.

I would choose lethal injection or the firing squad myself. I would much prefer six rounds of 30 caliber, 3 to the heart and 3 to the head, if lethal injection weren't available, over the electric chair.

The firing squad has an additional advantage--I believe you could allow folks to bid for a place on it and you could get at least $1000 for each place.

Yep! The old west. Gather the town for a session of hymn singing, let the condemned speak their piece, put on the bags, slip on the nooses, drum roll, spring the trap door and send up to 38 perps on to their eternal reward.