<P> Execution by electrocution, performed using an electric chair, is a method of execution originating in the United States in which the condemned person is strapped to a specially built wooden chair and electrocuted through electrodes fastened on the head and leg . This execution method, conceived in 1881 by a Buffalo, New York, dentist named Alfred P. Southwick, was developed throughout the 1880s as a "humane alternative" to hanging, and first used in 1890 . This execution method has been used in the United States and, for a period of several decades, in the Philippines (its first use was in 1924, last in 1976). </P> <P> Historically, once the condemned person was attached to the chair, various cycles (differing in voltage and duration) of alternating current would be passed through the individual's body, in order to cause fatal damage to the internal organs (including the brain). The first, more powerful, jolt of electric current is intended to pass through the head and cause immediate unconsciousness and brain death . The second, less powerful, jolt is intended to cause fatal damage to the vital organs . Death may also be caused by electrical overstimulation of the heart . </P>

Do they still use the electric chair in america