Nine states currently authorize the electric chair as a method of execution: Alabama, Arkansas, Florida, Kentucky, Louisiana, Mississippi, Oklahoma, South Carolina, and Tennessee. None of them use electrocution as their primary method. In every one, lethal injection or another method comes first, and the electric chair is available only as an inmate’s choice, as a fallback when other methods are unavailable, or at a corrections official’s discretion. The last electrocution in the United States was carried out in Tennessee in February 2020.
How Each State Authorizes the Electric Chair
Alabama
Lethal injection is the default. A condemned person gets one chance to choose electrocution or nitrogen hypoxia instead, and that choice must be delivered in writing to the warden within 30 days after the Alabama Supreme Court issues its certificate of judgment affirming the death sentence. Miss the deadline and lethal injection stands.1Alabama Legislature. Alabama Code 15-18-82.1 – Methods of Execution; Election of Method; Constitutionality
Arkansas
Electrocution is a backup only. Arkansas uses lethal injection unless that method is invalidated by a final, unappealable court order, at which point the state switches to the electric chair. An inmate cannot volunteer for it.2Justia. Arkansas Code 5-4-617 – Method of Execution
Florida
Same structure as Alabama. Lethal injection is the default, and the condemned person has one opportunity to elect electrocution. The written election must reach the warden within 30 days after the Florida Supreme Court issues its mandate affirming the sentence. If that deadline passes, the right to choose is permanently waived.3Florida Senate. Florida Code 922.105 – Execution of Death Sentence
Kentucky
Only inmates sentenced to death before March 31, 1998 may choose between lethal injection and the electric chair. If an eligible person does not choose at least 20 days before the scheduled execution, the state uses lethal injection. Anyone sentenced after the 1998 cutoff has no access to electrocution at all.4Kentucky Legislative Research Commission. Kentucky Revised Statute 431.220 – Execution of Death Sentence
Louisiana
The newest addition. Effective July 1, 2024, Louisiana authorizes lethal injection, nitrogen hypoxia, or electrocution. The state had not carried out an execution in over a decade before the change, so the practical availability of the electric chair there is untested.
Mississippi
Mississippi puts the choice in the hands of the Commissioner of the Department of Corrections rather than the inmate. The commissioner may select lethal injection, nitrogen hypoxia, electrocution, or firing squad. State policy designates lethal injection as preferred, but the statute gives corrections officials broad discretion to pick another method.5Justia. Mississippi Code 99-19-51 – Manner of Execution of Death Sentence
Oklahoma
Electrocution sits third in a hierarchy. Lethal injection comes first. If lethal injection is found unconstitutional or otherwise unavailable, the state moves to nitrogen hypoxia. The electric chair only comes into play if both of those methods are ruled unconstitutional or unavailable, which makes it one of the least likely methods Oklahoma would actually use.6Justia. Oklahoma Code 22-1014 – Manner of Inflicting Punishment of Death
South Carolina
South Carolina is the only state where electrocution is the default. Under the 2021 amendment to the state’s execution statute, a condemned person may choose lethal injection (if available), firing squad, or electrocution. Failing to make a written election at least 14 days before the execution date means the state proceeds by electrocution. Electrocution also becomes mandatory if lethal injection is certified as unavailable by the Department of Corrections director, unless the person picks firing squad instead.7South Carolina Legislature. South Carolina Code 24-3-530 – Death Penalty; Methods of Execution
Tennessee
Layered. Anyone who committed their offense before January 1, 1999 may elect electrocution by signing a written waiver of lethal injection. For everyone else, lethal injection is the only option unless it is ruled unconstitutional or the commissioner of correction certifies that the department cannot carry out a lethal injection despite reasonable efforts. In either fallback scenario, the state switches to electrocution for all condemned persons regardless of offense date.8Justia. Tennessee Code 40-23-114 – Death by Lethal Injection – Election of Electrocution – Electrocution as Alternative Method
Who Actually Decides
The nine states break into three groups by mechanism.
- Alabama, Florida, Kentucky (pre-1998 sentences only), South Carolina, and Tennessee (pre-1999 offenses only) let the condemned person affirmatively choose electrocution over lethal injection. Deadlines vary by state.
- Arkansas, Oklahoma, and Tennessee activate the electric chair only when lethal injection is struck down by a court or certified as unavailable. Louisiana’s new statute lists electrocution as an available method without requiring inmate election.
- Mississippi gives the Commissioner of Corrections authority to choose among four methods, including electrocution, though policy favors lethal injection.5Justia. Mississippi Code 99-19-51 – Manner of Execution of Death Sentence
South Carolina is the outlier. Because electrocution is the default when no election is made or when lethal injection drugs are unavailable, it is the state most likely to actually use the electric chair going forward.7South Carolina Legislature. South Carolina Code 24-3-530 – Death Penalty; Methods of Execution
How Often the Electric Chair Is Actually Used
Rarely. Despite appearing in nine statute books, the electric chair sees very little use. The last electrocution in the United States was that of Nicholas Todd Sutton in Tennessee on February 20, 2020. Before that, electrocutions had been sporadic since lethal injection became widely adopted in the 1990s, running to a handful per decade. Most condemned people who are offered a choice pick lethal injection, and the states that authorize the electric chair only as a backup have not needed to activate it.
The recent trend is toward adding nitrogen hypoxia as another alternative. Alabama carried out the first nitrogen hypoxia execution in January 2024, and Mississippi, Oklahoma, and Louisiana have all added nitrogen hypoxia to their statutes as well. Each new method pushes the electric chair further down the hierarchy.
Is the Electric Chair Constitutional
Yes, under current law. The U.S. Supreme Court addressed electrocution in 1890 in In re Kemmler, holding that a punishment is “cruel” only when it involves torture or a lingering death and finding that electrocution had been adopted as a more humane alternative to hanging.9Justia. In re Kemmler, 136 U.S. 436 (1890) That ruling has never been overturned, and no later Supreme Court decision has found electrocution unconstitutional.
State-level challenges have continued. The most significant recent case came from South Carolina, where death row inmates argued in Owens v. Stirling that electrocution violates the state constitution’s separate prohibitions on cruel, unusual, and corporal punishment. They cited past incidents where people caught fire during electrocution and argued the method had largely fallen out of use nationwide. On July 31, 2024, the South Carolina Supreme Court rejected those arguments, reversed a lower court ruling, and upheld the 2021 execution statute in its entirety.10Justia. Owens v. Stirling, Opinion No. 28222 (2024) The ruling suggests state courts are unlikely to strike down electrocution statutes any time soon, even under state constitutional provisions that are arguably more protective than the federal Eighth Amendment.