Zee+-+Electricity

This blog is about the Electric chair, how it was made, where it was made, who made it why did they make it and how it works we have been using death penalties for a long time but now we have new technology.

** WHAT IS CAPITAL PUNISHMENT? **  Capital punishment is a punishment that is used for death, people who get the death penalty usually murdered a person or raped or held people hostage almost 60 countries have the death penalty but Canada, Australia, and European and Latin American nations. (Capital Punishment) In the 1880s, the New York State government wanted to think of another way to do the death penalty. The most common form of capital punishment was hanging, but it was slow and painful. Also about the same time, two rival electrical companies established different types of electricity. Thomas Edison's company (Edison General Electric Company) established DC service. Westinghouse Corporation started AC service. Both of these happenings helped lead to the electric chair. (Bellis Mary) ** WHAT TYPE OF PUNISHMENT DID WE HAVE EARLIER & WHEN? **

  In the 1600's people have been hanged, stoned, beheaded, and poisoned, then guns came in. The common one was electrocution or gas (Capital Punishment). Most of the United States uses a lethal injection that is a drug that stops your heart.

** WHO STARTED THE ELECTRIC CHAIR? **   The DC companies’ electricity only goes one way while the AC companies go the other way. As time went past, people were not able to get electricity from DC, because prices were getting higher for copper electric cables and that’s what DC uses. On the other hand Thomas Edison was in jeopardy of losing his AC Company, because he is going against Westinghouse saying that "Westinghouse AC technology was unsafe to use." In the 1880's Thomas Edison had a gathering to prove his statement, he used a 1,000 volt Westinghouse AC generator and put it to a metal plate, and he killed many useless animals that day. That was the birth of "electrocution AKA death by electricity. (Bellis Mary)  ** WHO WAS THE FIRST PERSON TO GET PUNISHED? **

 We have been using the death penalty for a very long time “Ancient Times." The first one to get the death penalty was Socrates; he had to drink "Hemlock" a type of poison. Later on people were being killed by being hanged or beheaded. (Capital Punishment)  ** WHO WON THE CHALLNEGE? **    In the late 1880's, New York let electrocution be the new execution, but Edison and Westinghouse were in a campaign hoping that this would not be in people’s homes. In the beginning of 1889 the law of the Electric chair began. Thomas Edison and Harold Brown gave out the AC generators for the first Prisoners, people said that it was cruel and unusual punishment, but Edison testified saying that it was quick and painless. In the late 1880's, the Edison research facility had an associate worker Harold Brown; Brown wrote a letter saying that a boy died when he touched an open telegraph wire on an AC current. Brown and Doctor Fred Peterson were working on way to come up with a new electric chair for Thomas Edison. They proved that DC killed the animals slowly, while AC killed them right away. Doctor Peterson selected the best electric chair (Bellis Mary).AC was picked; there was no way that DC would win. AC was flawless and happened so quickly.

** WHY DID WE GO AGAINST THE LAW? **  In the early 1970's "Furman v. Georgia" influenced the death penalty saying that it was "cruel and unusual punishment." The death penalty disobeyed the constitution, but the court let that slide because they just had to change the reason for the death penalty (Capital Punishment). After the court passed the reason for death, more than 1,000 people have been killed by the electric chair. People who haven’t been killed yet and have the death penalty stay at a place called "Death Row,” a place you don’t want to be it’s for the most dangerous people in the world.

** WHO STILL USES THE ELECTRIC CHAIR? **   In the 2000's some states reexamined the capital punishment systems. Some of the people in death row have been falsely accused or innocent. In 2001, Illinois was able to delay the death penalty to see if they were innocent or not. Later on the Governor decreased the number of people on death row by just giving them life in prison. In 2011 only 15 people are on death ro w. In 2007 New Jersey ended the death penalty. In 2009 New Mexico ended the death penalty, and in 2011 Illinois end their death penalty (Capital Punishment). <span style="color: #000000; font-family: Tahoma,Geneva,sans-serif; font-size: 110%;">To conclude my blog the electric chair has been used for a long time, and it shows how one idea can change everything, nowadays we use this type of punishment or we use the lethal injection, both of them are very deadly, but in all realness electricity is very dangerous and should not be used just to use it, because if you mess up then it can take your life in a quick second.