Beatrice Lang
The electric chair is a device used for capital punishment through electrocution. It was first used in 1890 and became a symbol of capital punishment in the United States. As of 2024, Alabama, Arkansas, Florida, Kentucky, Louisiana, South Carolina, and Tennessee are the only U.S. states that still reserve the electric chair as an option for execution. Inmates in other states can choose between lethal injection and electrocution. Mississippi and Oklahoma laws also provide for the use of the electric chair if lethal injection is ever deemed unconstitutional.
| Characteristics | Values |
|---|---|
| States that allow the electric chair as an option for execution | Alabama, Arkansas, Florida, Kentucky, Louisiana, Mississippi, Oklahoma, South Carolina, Tennessee |
| States that allow electrocution if lethal injection is found unconstitutional | Florida, Mississippi, Oklahoma, Tennessee |
| States that allow electrocution if lethal injection drugs are unavailable | Tennessee |
| States that have the largest death row populations | California, Florida, Texas, Alabama |
| States that allow the death penalty | 27 states, including California, Oregon, Pennsylvania, and Texas |
| States that have a moratorium on executions | California, Oregon, Pennsylvania, and the federal government |
| States that have abolished the death penalty | Alaska, Colorado, Connecticut, Delaware, District of Columbia, Hawaii, Illinois, Iowa, Maine, Maryland, Massachusetts, Michigan, Minnesota, New Hampshire, New Jersey, New Mexico, New York, North Dakota, Rhode Island, Vermont, Virginia, Washington, West Virginia, Wisconsin |
| States that have abolished capital punishment | Virginia |
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What You'll Learn
States where electric chair is an alternative method of execution
As of 2024, electrocution is an alternative method of execution in eight US states: Alabama, Arkansas, Florida, Kentucky, Mississippi, Oklahoma, South Carolina, and Tennessee. Inmates in the other states must select either lethal injection or electrocution. Lethal injection is the primary means of execution in all states where it is legal except South Carolina.
In Arkansas, Kentucky, and Tennessee, inmates sentenced before a certain date can choose to be executed by electric chair. Arkansas currently doesn't have any death row inmates sentenced before their cutoff date. In May 2014, Tennessee passed a law allowing the use of the electric chair if lethal injection drugs were unavailable. Electrocution is also authorized in Florida, Mississippi, and Oklahoma if lethal injection is found unconstitutional or unavailable.
The electric chair was first used in 1890 and became a symbol of capital punishment in the United States. It was originally thought to cause death through cerebral damage, but it was later discovered that death primarily results from ventricular fibrillation and cardiac arrest. The electric chair was the primary method of execution in South Carolina and was the sole method in Nebraska until it was ruled unconstitutional in 2008.
The most recent execution by electric chair was of Nicholas Todd Sutton on February 20, 2020, in Tennessee.
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States where lethal injection is the primary method
Lethal injection is the primary method of execution in all states where it is legal, except South Carolina. In California, Oregon, Pennsylvania, and the federal government, a moratorium on executions has been declared.
Lethal injection is the primary means of execution for the federal government and the states where the death penalty remains active. However, there are alternative methods that have been used within the last decade. Inmates in some states must choose between lethal injection and the electric chair.
In 2024, the Supreme Court of South Carolina ruled that electrocution and firing squad were legal. The electric chair is the primary means of execution in South Carolina. It is an alternative method of execution in eight states: Alabama, Arkansas, Florida, Kentucky, Mississippi, Oklahoma, South Carolina, and Tennessee.
In addition to lethal injection, five states authorize lethal gas as a method of execution. Lethal gas was first introduced in Nevada in 1924 as a more humane way of executing prisoners.
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States with the largest death row populations
As of 2024, the electric chair is only an option for execution in Alabama, Arkansas, Florida, Kentucky, Louisiana, South Carolina, and Tennessee. Mississippi and Oklahoma laws also provide for its use if lethal injection is ever deemed unconstitutional.
California, Florida, Texas, and Alabama have the largest death row populations. As of December 31, 2022, there were 2,270 inmates under sentence of death in the United States. Texas leads the nation in the number of executions since the death penalty was reinstated in 1976.
The electric chair was first used in 1890 and became a symbol of capital punishment in the United States. It was originally believed to cause death through cerebral damage, but it was later discovered that death primarily occurs due to ventricular fibrillation and cardiac arrest.
Texas has played a significant role in the history of the electric chair. From 1952 to 1965, the electric chair was located by the East Wall of the Huntsville Unit. In 1999, the Texas Department of Criminal Justice moved death row inmates to the Polunsky Unit, where they are housed in single-person cells.
While the use of the electric chair has declined in recent years, with lethal injection becoming the most common method of execution, it remains a legal option in several states.
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States that have abolished the death penalty
As of 2025, 23 states have abolished the death penalty, while 27 states have retained it. The federal capital, Washington, D.C., has also abolished capital punishment. The death penalty is a rapidly evolving area of law that varies from state to state.
Several states have abolished the death penalty in recent years. Virginia became the 23rd state to abolish capital punishment in March 2021, and the first Southern state to do so. The state's governor, Ralph Northam, commuted all existing death sentences to life without parole.
In May 2020, Colorado abolished the death penalty when Governor Jared Polis signed a repeal bill and commuted all existing death sentences to life without parole.
New Hampshire became the 21st state to abolish capital punishment in May 2019, when its state senate overrode Governor Sununu's veto by a vote of 16-8.
In October 2018, Washington state became the 20th state to abolish capital punishment when its state Supreme Court deemed the death penalty unconstitutional due to racial bias. The state later abolished it through legislation passed in 2023.
In 2012, Connecticut's legislature voted to abolish the death penalty for future crimes, and in 2015, the state Supreme Court ruled that the death penalty violated the state constitution.
New Mexico voted to abolish the death penalty in 2009, and in 2019, the state Supreme Court ordered the two prisoners on death row to be resentenced to life in prison.
Other states that have abolished the death penalty include Alaska (1957), Hawaii (1948), Minnesota (1911), Vermont (1964), Iowa and West Virginia (1965), North Dakota (1973), and Arizona (1916).
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States that allow firing squad as an alternative method of execution
The use of the electric chair as a means of execution has declined in the US, with many states abandoning it at the start of the 21st century due to its inhumane nature. In its place, some states have adopted the firing squad as an alternative method of execution.
In March 2025, Idaho became the first state to designate the firing squad as the primary execution method. Idaho Governor Brad Little signed a bill that allowed for this change in policy. Mississippi, Oklahoma, South Carolina, and Utah are the other states that use firing squads for the death penalty.
In South Carolina, a bill was signed into law in 2021 that brought back the electric chair as the default method of execution if lethal injection was unavailable, and it also added the firing squad as an option. In March 2025, the state executed Brad Sigmon, a convicted murderer, by firing squad, making it the first such execution in the US since 2010. Sigmon chose death by firing squad over other forms of execution under a 2021 law that allowed inmates that option.
The use of firing squads has been rare in modern times due to its association with military or police violence, making this method controversial. However, the increasing failures of lethal injection, the primary method of execution in the US, have prompted states to reconsider older methods like the firing squad.
Utah revived the firing squad in 2015 due to challenges to the state's lethal injection protocol. Lethal injection has faced multiple problems since its inception, including drug shortages and a higher rate of botched executions. Firing squads, on the other hand, are carried out by trained professionals, such as retired police officers or military shooters, and are much speedier, resulting in less suffering.
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Frequently asked questions
Alabama, Arkansas, Florida, Kentucky, Louisiana, Mississippi, Oklahoma, South Carolina, Tennessee, and Texas.
No, lethal injection is the primary method of execution in all states where it is legal except South Carolina.
Lethal injection, lethal gas, hanging, and firing squad.
Yes, in some states, inmates can choose between the electric chair and lethal injection.
Yes, Willie Francis, an African-American teenager, survived the electric chair in Louisiana in 1946. His appeals to the death penalty failed, and he was executed in 1947.
