<P> Capital punishment is not in force in the State of New York . The last execution took place in 1963 , when Eddie Mays was electrocuted at Sing Sing Prison . The state was the first to adopt the electric chair as a method of execution , which replaced hanging . Following the U.S. Supreme Court 's ruling declaring existing capital punishment statutes unconstitutional in Furman v. Georgia ( 1972 ) , New York was without a death penalty until 1995 , when then - Governor George Pataki signed a new statute into law , which provided for execution by lethal injection . </P>
when did new york stop using the electric chair
1963