Margie Patton
Staff Writer
Tennessee governor Bill Haslam has signed a bill into law allowing the state to execute death row criminals via the electric chair.
Electrocutions will only take place, however, when a prison cannot secure the drugs necessary for lethal injection. Lethal injection chemicals have become more difficult to purchase following a recent boycott against their sale led by several European countries.
While electrocution is considered cruel and unusual punishment by many opponents, a handful of lethal injection attempts have also been botched, resulting in lengthy, painful deaths for the executed.
In 2009 an attempt to execute an inmate by lethal injection was even abandoned after the inmate was pricked with needles eighteen times. The Ohio inmate remains on death row and is currently fighting the state’s attempts to try again.
Many citizens of Tennessee seem to be in support of the electric chair. A recent poll conducted by Vanderbilt University showed that 56 percent of registered voters in the state supported its use, while only 37 percent were against it.
How do you feel about this topic, PopWrapped readers? Is the electric chair more barbaric and cruel than lethal injection, are both equally humane, or are you against the death penalty altogether? Let us know in the comments.
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