Historical Roots
The adoption of the Constitution and enactment of the Bill of Rights was also the same period when death penalty became an accepted form of punishment in the United States. During such period, the correctional officers use the method of hanging the convicted criminal to carry out death sentences. This traditional method continued to be used until the mid 19th century. In the year 1890, The New York Legislature formed a commission and ordered them to discover the “most humane and practical method known to modern science of carrying into effect the sentence of death in capital cases.” (Justia ...