NCJ Number
188487
Date Published
2002
Length
10 pages
Annotation
This chapter describes the work of executioners as they prepare for and conduct an execution.
Abstract
Today, executions are generally the work of a highly disciplined and efficient team of correctional officers. The execution process as it is now practiced starts with the prisoner's confinement on death row, an oppressive prison-within-a-prison where the condemned are housed, sometimes for years, awaiting execution. Death work gains momentum when an execution date draws near and the prisoner is moved to the death house, a short walk from the death chamber. Finally, the process culminates in the death watch, a 24-hour period that ends when the prisoner has been executed. This final period, the death watch, is generally undertaken by correctional officers who work as a team and report directly to the prison warden. The warden or his representative, in turn, must by law preside over the execution. The officers of the death watch teams are the modern executioners. This chapter reports on a study of one such group. This team, comprised of nine seasoned officers of varying ranks, had conducted five electrocutions at the time the author began the research. He interviewed each officer on the team after the fifth execution, then served as an official witness at a sixth electrocution. Later, the author served as a behind-the-scenes observer during the team's seventh execution. The results of this phase of the research constitute the substance of this chapter.