Method of Executions
Florida used public hanging under a local jurisdiction, overseen and performed by the sheriffs of the counties where the crimes took place. However, in 1923, the Florida Legislature passed a law replacing hanging with the electric chair and stated that all future execution will be performed under a state jurisdiction inside prisons.
A total of 223 people were electrocuted through 1964, all of whom were men. Before that, 117 were hanged. In addition, 44 were electrocuted after 1979.
Until 1941, sheriffs of the counties where the crimes were committed would perform the executions. Later, a black-hooded executioner, a private citizen who is paid $150 per execution, took over. This gave anonymity to the actual executioner.
Read more about this topic: Capital Punishment In Florida
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—Thomas Henry Huxley (1825–95)
“I am not afraid of the priests in the long-run. Scientific method is the white ant which will slowly but surely destroy their fortifications. And the importance of scientific method in modern practical life—always growing and increasing—is the guarantee for the gradual emancipation of the ignorant upper and lower classes, the former of whom especially are the strength of the priests.”
—Thomas Henry Huxley (1825–95)
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—Phil Donahue (b. 1935)