File:Florida_electric-chair.jpg · Wikimedia Commons · See Wikimedia Commons
The electric chair is a method of execution in which a condemned person is killed by passing a high-voltage electric current through their body. It was used in the United States as a capital punishment method and raises significant questions about the ethics and effectiveness of different execution methods in criminal justice systems.
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In the Vinony graph
Within Vinony's link graph, electric chair is referenced by 1,249 other articles, and connects out to electrical injury, Gregg v. Georgia and United States.
It sits within the topics American inventions, Chairs and Electric chairs.
Its subject is documented across 57 Wikipedia language editions.
Wikidata facts
- Subclass of
- appliance
- Country
- Philippines
- Image
- Kemmler exécuté par l'électricité.jpg
- Has use
- capital punishment
Show 7 more facts
- discoverer or inventor
- Alfred P. Southwick
- commissioned by
- Thomas Edison
- Commons category
- Electric chairs
- topic's main category
- Category:Electric chairs
- Commons gallery
- Electric chair
- used by
- executioner
- has effect
- electrocution
Sources (1)
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Encyclopedic overview
Electric chair at the Florida State Prison
The electric chair is a specialized device used for capital punishment through electrocution. The condemned prisoner is strapped to a custom wooden chair and electrocuted via electrodes attached to the head and legs. Alfred P. Southwick, a dentist in Buffalo, New York, conceived this execution method in 1881. It was developed over the next decade as a more humane alternative to conventional executions, particularly hanging. First used in 1890, the electric chair has become a symbol of capital punishment in the United States.
Excerpted from Wikipedia’s “electric chair” article, available under the CC BY-SA 4.0 licence.