Tennessee Republican calls for lynching-style hangings in state executions

A Tennessee legislator suggested that lynching could be a potential method for state executions.

“Could I put an amendment on that that would include hanging on a tree, also?” Republican representative Paul Sherrell said as the state’s House Criminal Justice Committee was debating a bill to add the firing squad to existing methods of execution, lethal injection and electrocution on Tuesday (28 February).

Mr Sherrell has since apologised, explaining that his “exaggerated comments were intended to convey [the] belief that for the cruelest and most heinous crimes, a just society requires the death penalty in kind.”

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