Methods of Capital Punishment


Read the account of death penalty methods presented in class HERE (PPT slides) UPDATED FALL 2007 

Also see these accounts of the history of these methods and descriptions of them, and then scroll down for pictures ...
 

Actual methods

Methods of execution by state from the Death Penalty Information Center

Descriptions of each method from the Death Penalty Information Center
 

Mistakes with current methods

Known botched executions since Furman v. United States (1972)
 

Be a witness to real executions

Listen to actual executions
(including that which was so botched against Alpha Otis O'Daniel Stephens it was part of what led to the chair being banned in Georgia)

Read why the electric chair is illegal in Georgia

(Dawson v. State and Moore v. State, 2001)
 


WARNING:
Some of the following images are graphic, bloody, and may be disturbing to you
 
 


Here are images of one of the oldest and still most practiced methods
of capital punishment around the world ... hanging
(pictures from United States, Mexico AND NOW IRAQ):
 
 


 


 


 



Saddam Hussein is DEAD ...












Images of beheadings
(pictures from China):


 


 
 
 



Images of shooting squad type executions
(pictures from China, Vietnam, Mexico, United States):
 


 


 
 
 
 
 


 
 






Examples of gas chambers
(pictures from California, Colorado):
 


 


 
 
 
 
 



The men who approved the use of execution in New York:


 

Examples of electric chairs:


 


 
 


 


 


 
 

First person executed in the electric chair
(Kemmler, New York):


 

And of course, the horrible aftermath of executions
(Davis, Florida):


 


 


 

Ted Bundy after his execution in Florida:


 
 
 


 



Today's most common method in the United States is lethal injection
(pictures from California, North Carolina):