In re Kemmler

The legal ruling In re Kemmler (1890) was a U.S. Supreme Court case that addressed the constitutionality of electrocution as a method of capital punishment. New York State adopted electrocution in 1888 as a supposedly more humane alternative to hanging.1

William Kemmler was the first person executed by electrocution on August 6, 1890. His execution was widely described as a botched and gruesome event, with witnesses reporting horrific sights and an unbearable stench. Despite this, electrocution was adopted by other states and became the primary method of execution in many parts of the U.S. for decades.1

The Supreme Court has not definitively ruled electrocution unconstitutional, but evidence suggests it can cause unnecessary pain and mutilation. Court challenges, beginning with the Kemmler case, eventually led most states to abandon electrocution in favor of lethal injection. The ruling in Furman v. Georgia (1972) temporarily halted executions nationwide by finding the death penalty unconstitutional when applied arbitrarily or discriminatorily.12