Tennessee dusts off its electric chair

Wikimedia Commons

Tennessee dusts off its electric chair
(Image credit: Wikimedia Commons)

If Europe thought it could end America's death penalty by refusing to export its lethal-injection drugs, well, it was partly right. After Oklahoma's infamously botched execution, using its own untested combination of mysteriously acquired drugs, the state suspended all executions, and the Supreme Court indefinitely stayed a Missouri lethal-injection execution Tuesday night, without explaining why.

Lethal injection isn't the only way to kill a prisoner, though. On Thursday evening, Tennessee Gov. Bill Haslam (R) signed a bill mandating execution by electric chair if no lethal-injection drugs are available. Tennessee, along with seven other states, already allowed prisoners the option to get electrocuted, but Richard Dieter at the Death Penalty Information Center tells The Associated Press that the Volunteer State is the first to not give prisoners a choice. Tennessee has 74 prisoners on death row, and its next scheduled execution is in October.

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Peter Weber, The Week US

Peter has worked as a news and culture writer and editor at The Week since the site's launch in 2008. He covers politics, world affairs, religion and cultural currents. His journalism career began as a copy editor at a financial newswire and has included editorial positions at The New York Times Magazine, Facts on File, and Oregon State University.