Supreme Court to Consider Use of Electric Chair
Guide Extra: 10/27/99
The U.S. Supreme Court has agreed to hear arguments in February or March of 2000 on the constitutionality of the use of the electric chair for executions. The Court's hearings will focus on whether or not use of the electric chair represents cruel and unusual punishment. The Courts only other consideration of this question came over 100 years ago, in 1890, when the Court upheld the electric chair as a constitutional means of execution.The Court's hearings will be conducted in relationship to its order, issued late Tuesday (10/26/99) to stay the execution of Florida inmate sentenced to die by electrocution.
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