What states still have the electric chair?

As of September 2014, eight states still have electrocution available as an execution method, including Alabama, Arkansas, Florida, Kentucky, Oklahoma, South Carolina, Tennessee and Virginia. These states primarily use lethal injection for inmate executions, and the electric chair is used only at the convict's discretion in most jurisdictions. read more

Only the states of Alabama, Arkansas, Florida, Kentucky, South Carolina, Tennessee and Virginia have electrocution as a secondary method which is usually only available at the prisoners request. Interestingly, Arizona and California have gas inhalation as their secondary methods, Utah has firing squad and Washington uses hanging. read more

The electric chair was adopted by Ohio (1897), Massachusetts (1900), New Jersey (1906) and Virginia (1908), and soon became the prevalent method of execution in the United States, replacing hanging. Most of the states that currently use or have used the electric chair lie east of the Mississippi River. read more