Download Old Sparky: The Electric Chair and the History of the Death Penalty AudioBook Free
In early 2013, Robert Gleason became the latest victim of the electric chair, a peculiarly American execution method. Shouting "pog mo slender" ("kiss my ass" in Gaelic), he grinned as electricity taken through his system. When the existing was switched off, his body slumped resistant to the leather restraints. And Gleeson, who experienced strangled two fellow inmates to ensure his execution had not been postponed, was dead. The execution had gone flawlessly - not a guaranteed consequence with the electric chair, which has eliminated horrifically incorrect on many situations. Old Sparky includes the history of capital consequence in America and the "current wars" between Edison and Westinghouse, which led to the development of the electric chair. It examines the way the electric chair became the most popular method of execution in America before being superseded by lethal injections. Famous executions are explored alongside quirky previous foods and poignant previous words. The fatality penalty remains a hot topic of debate in America, and Old Sparky does not shy from that controversy. Executions have eliminated spectacularly incorrect, with convicts being established alight or requiring up to five jolts of electricity before dying. There have been horrendous miscarriages of justice, and the fatality penalty is not applied evenhandedly. Historically, African People in the usa, the emotionally challenged, and poor defendants have been likely to get the chair, an anomaly that led the Supreme Courtroom to briefly suspend the fatality penalty. Since the resumption of capital consequence in 1976, Texas alone has carried out more than 500 prisoners, and fatality row is full.