Eddie Lee Mays
Mays would become the last person to be executed by "Old Sparky", New York State's electric chair at Sing Sing prison. The State Electrician was Dow Hover. The electric chair had been the sole method of execution in the State since 1890 (hanging had been abolished in 1888). In 1965, the State of New York repealed the death penalty, except for cases involving the murder of a police officer. Although the legislature never fully repealed the death penalty statute, and the state even expanded it in 1995, there were no further executions because of rulings by the U.S. Supreme Court in 1972 and the New York Court of Appeals in 2004.
Capital punishment in the United States
As of October 1, 2016, the Death Penalty Information Center reports that there are only 54 women on death row. This constitutes 1.86% of the total death row population. 16 women have been executed since 1976, while 1442 men have been executed. 15,391 total confirmed lawful executions have been carried out in the US since 1608, and of these, 575, or 3.6%, were women. Women account for 1/50 death sentences, 1/67 people on death row, and 1/100 people whose executions are actually carried out. The states that have executed the most women are California, Texas and Florida. For women, the racial breakdown of those sentenced to death is 21% black, 13% Latina, 2% American Indian, 61% white and 3% Asian.