The practice of blindfolding prisoners sentenced to death in the electric chair has a long history in the United States criminal justice system. While the reasons behind this tradition have evolved over time, the blindfold ultimately serves both practical and symbolic purposes in the execution process.
The Origins of Blindfolding in Executions
Blindfolding prisoners before executions has been standard practice for centuries, dating back to historic methods of capital punishment such as hanging, firing squad and beheading. The rationale was generally two-fold:
- To prevent prisoners from seeing the instruments of their death and panicking or struggling at the last moment
- To spare executioners and witnesses from making eye contact with the condemned
When the electric chair was first adopted as a supposedly more humane method of execution in the late 19th century, the blindfold was retained as a matter of procedure. At the time, the belief was that eliminating the prisoner’s vision would help ease the anticipatory fear of seeing the apparatus.
Practical Functions of the Blindfold Today
In the modern era, blindfolding inmates before electrocution serves some practical penological functions:
- Prevents the prisoner from seeing the witnesses viewing the execution. This avoids inflicting additional mental anguish on the inmate in their final moments.
- Avoids the risk of the prisoner staring directly at witnesses in a threatening or unnerving manner.
- Helps the condemned individual focus inward and hopefully achieve some degree of inner peace and acceptance before death.
- Subdues the prisoner’s visual senses so their other senses are heightened. This may aid in achieving faster unconsciousness when the electric current is applied.
- Shields the inmate’s eyes and face from charring or other damage caused by the heat and burns of the electrocution.
In short, the blindfold helps control both the experience of the condemned and the viewing experience of the witnesses.
Symbolic Meaning of the Blindfold
On a more symbolic level, the blindfold represents a ritualistic separation between the living and the soon-to-be-deceased. Covering the prisoner’s eyes serves as a visual cue that their time on earth is over, and their life will soon transition into darkness and the unknown.
In many ways, the blindfold during electrocution procedures carries a similar cultural significance to practices such as the hood placed over the prisoner’s head during hangings or the black mask worn during lethal injections. These all represent the crossing over from life into death.
Criticisms of the Practice
While blindfolding is accepted as standard practice, some death penalty critics have questioned whether it serves any real purpose, or only increases the distress and disorientation of the prisoner:
- Removing a person’s sight right before death could be viewed as unnecessarily inhumane or cruel.
- It may actually cause more anxiety not to see what is happening, versus seeing and accepting their fate.
- Serves no legitimate medical or practical health function, unlike strapping down limbs to avoid seizures.
- Some argue it is done only to benefit witnesses and executioners, not the prisoner.
Overall though, the use of blindfolds and other visual barriers remains commonplace in executions today. The courts have generally upheld it as a reasonable procedure when challenged.
Usage of Blindfolds in Famous Cases
Here are some notable cases where prisoners were blindfolded before execution in the electric chair:
- Sacco and Vanzetti – Controversial anarchists executed in 1927 after a disputed murder trial. Blindfolded at the request of the warden.
- Ethel Rosenberg – Member of convicted spy ring couple executed in 1953 with her husband Julius. Declined a blindfold at first but accepted one just before the execution.
- Ted Bundy – Serial killer and rapist convicted of three murders and suspected of dozens more. Electrocuted in Florida in 1989 with all customary procedures including blindfold.
- Westley Allan Dodd – Child killer and sex offender executed in Washington in 1993. Asked not to be blindfolded, but was denied and blindfolded against his wishes.
In all the above cases, as in most executions, officials adhered to standard protocols including blindfolding the prisoner.
Requirements for Witnesses
A related question around electric chair executions is whether witnesses are required to watch. The short answer is no – witnesses are never obligated to watch every moment.
Rules vary by state, but in general witnessing protocols are:
- Witnesses include the victim’s family, the inmate’s family, media, and officials.
- Witnesses are separated from the inmate and execution team by a glass viewing panel.
- Witnesses may look away or cover their eyes at any point if they wish.
- Officials may draw a curtain over the viewing panel during the most graphic/disturbing moments.
While witnesses are expected to view most of the proceedings, concessions are made for those who need to look away from time to time. The experience can be very emotionally difficult, so reasonable accommodations are allowed.
Conclusion
In summary, blindfolding prisoners for electric chair executions serves legitimate purposes in controlling the inmate’s experience and facilitating a respectful witnessing process. While criticized by some as unnecessary, it remains standard practice in most cases with no signs of changing. Going forward, the blindfold seems destined to remain a symbolic part of the visual imagery associated with capital punishment in America.