Capital Punishment In America
The methods America has used to execute its criminals have changed over the years
From burning, to drawing and quartering to hanging
Criminals have been axed
Crucified, buried alive, pressed with weights
Stoned, impaled, starved, decapitated, and gibbeted
Gibbeting is the hanging of the condemned man by chains to rot
Death usually takes weeks to occur. (Lench Mob)
Today, the breakdown of execution methods looks like this:
17 states use lethal injection
The electric chair is employed in 15 states
Lethal Gas is the choice in 7 states, 3 state still hang their condemned
And 2 states execute prisoners by firing squad. (Lench Mob)
As of 1987, Florida led the nation with 277 inmates awaiting death
Texas was second with 257
And California was third with 219
The youngest person facing death was 16 years old. (Lench Mob)
In the United States, public execution occasionally led to violence among the crowd
And senseless tragedy for a few unfortunate witnesses. (Lench Mob)
The last public execution in America was on August 14th 1946
Nearly 20,000 people showed up to watch the hanging death of Rainey Bethea
A black man accused of raping a white woman
"Lets only eliminate on the grounds of the solace of bumpin' business and all of that, and everybody had a good time
And the mob was just totally unruly"
Mob was just totally unruly
Mob was just totally unruly