This description of an electrocution displays just how cruel an execution really is. There are numerous cases where more than one charge of electricity is needed to kill a person. Louis Evans needed three separate charges of 1,900 volts in 14 minutes before he died. William Vandiver took 17 minutes and 5 charges of electricity before he was pronounced dead. Is this cruel? In the case of Willie Francis, he was strapped to the chair and electrocuted, but did not die. He was returned to his cell and brought back to the electric chair one year later, when he was finally killed. 3 (When The State Kills) California ruled that its gas chamber was cruel and unusual punishment and therefore unconstitutional in October of 1994. Eyewitness accounts of gas chamber deaths are just as gruesome as electrocutions. Doctors and witness accounts of gas chamber deaths say, A prisoner is likely to suffer intense physical pain, mainly an air hunger similar to strangulation or drowning. The symptoms include intense chest pains, such as felt during a heart attack, acute anxiety, and struggling to breath. 5 (Newspaper Article-California Gas Chamber). There are many horrible accounts of botched executions by firing squad and hanging as well. Even the newest method of execution, lethal injection, is not flawless. A prisoner may have no veins showing from prolonged drug use, or he may struggle causing the needle to move several times. Perhaps one day this court will develop procedural rules or verbal formulas that actually will provide consistency, fairness, and reliability in a capital-sentencing scheme. I am not optimistic that such a day will come. U.S. Supreme Court Justice Harry Blackman The fact is that there is no perfect method for imposing or carrying out capital punishment. Too many factors such as race and the chance of error or mistakes make the death penalty ...
