The criminal is seated in a chair. Electrodes are attached to the head and a leg. Pulses of 2000 volts are sent through his body for about three minutes or until he appears to be dead. The fact that the electrodes reach 1900 C and the brain reaches the boiling point causes one to doubt the humanity of this practice. However this process also has its flaws.
Needles have also been know to fly out in the middle of the injection.
The gas chamber was first used in Nevada in 1924. The prisoner is strapped into a chair and cyanide gas is administered through a hole in the floor. Death takes from three to four minutes, but prisoners have been known to go into convulsions or choke to death on the gas. After learning about our modern methods of execution one wonders if these methods are humane. We must devise more sane methods of execution which are quick and efficient.