Why 2021 could be the year SC makes the electric chair the main mode of execution
Facing a nationwide shortage of lethal injection drugs, South Carolina could shift to using electrocution as a means of putting some of its worst criminals to death.
State lawmakers will consider a bill next year that could make death by electrocution South Carolina’s default death penalty if drugs for the lethal injection are not available.
And that bill has the support of a powerful ally: the governor.
Under current South Carolina law, lethal injection is the default mode of execution, but inmates can choose electrocution instead. If the inmate chooses lethal injection, the state cannot force him or her to die by means of electrocution, under current law.
If the new bill were to pass, offenders would be allowed to choose between the lethal injection or electrocution, but if drugs were not available for the injection, the penalty would be carried out by electrocution.
S.C. Gov. Henry McMaster would sign the bill into law if it reached his desk, Governor’s Office spokesman Brian Symmes said.
“For three years, Governor McMaster has urged the General Assembly to pass legislation that will allow death penalty orders to be carried out – either by joining fourteen other states that have shield laws in place or by making electrocution the default method of execution if lethal injection isn’t an option,” Symmes said in a statement.
The proposal has gained some traction in the Legislature over the last few years because the state can’t perform lethal injection executions due to a years-long nationwide shortage of the necessary drugs. The shortage was caused by drug manufacturers, who sought to clamp down on how their products were being used. Companies have even gone to court to block the usage of their products in executions.
The bill, filed in the Senate last week by Sens. Greg Hembree and Shane Martin, is similar to an initiative pushed by South Carolina Republicans last session. The bill passed through the Senate by a vote of 26 to 13, and it was pushed through the House Judiciary Committee with a favorable report. The bill did not receive a vote on the House floor, and therefore, did not pass.
Some Democrats opposed the bill, saying it gave inmates the “facade” of choice when it comes to means of execution. Specifically, S.C. Rep. Justin Bamberg, D-Bamberg, argued that the electric chair violated the part of the Bill of Rights that protects Americans from cruel and unusual punishment.
Some Republicans, however, argued that if the bill does not pass, inmates who were sentenced to death would be effectively serving life sentences.
South Carolina isn’t the only state weighing changes to its executions in the wake of the lethal injection drug shortage.
Tennessee became the first state to bring back the electric chair without offering other options in 2014, after the state’s governor signed a bill that would allow officials to electrocute inmates if lethal injection drugs are not available.
In 2018, Nebraska used fentanyl among other drugs to carry out an execution, marking the first time that drug had been used in an execution in U.S. history. The use of fentanyl was controversial, as the opioid is a frequent cause of drug overdoses in recreational users, and it raised questions about how humane the drug’s use is.
In August, the Trump administration pushed to enact a proposal that could allow the use of firing squads or electrocutions in the executions of federal inmates, ProPublica reported. The rule may not come to fruition, though, as President-elect Joe Biden has taken a stance against the death penalty.
Several states have abolished the death penalty all together in recent years, including Colorado in 2020, New Hampshire in 2019 and Washington in 2018, according to nonprofit the Death Penalty Information Center.
This story was originally published December 16, 2020 at 12:00 AM.
