Beheading with a sword or axe goes back a very long way in hystory. This method was used in the 20th century but is now confined to Saudi Arabia, Quatar, and Yeman. It is effective and is probably as humane as any other modern form if carried out correctly, but is also extremely gruesome.Beheading requires a skilled headsman if it is to be at all humane, and frequently several blows are required to sever the head.The prisoner is usually blindfolded so that they do not see the sword or axe coming and move at the crucial moment.It was not unusual for an assistant to hold the prisoners hair to prevent them from moving.In any event the results are gory to the extreme, as blood spurts from severed arteries and viens of the neck including the aorta and the jugular vien. No doubt these two factors have lead to it's abandonment by most countries.It is probable that when a single blow is sufficient to decapitate the prisoner, they become unconscious within a few seconds. They die from shock and anoxia due to hemorrage and loss of blood pressure within less than 60 seconds. However because of muscles, and vertibrae in the neck are tough decapitation might require more than one blow.It has often been reported the the eyes and mouths of people beheaded have shown signs of movement. It has been calculated that the human brain has enough oxygen stored for metabolism to persist about seven seconds after the supply is cut off.
Two slightly different methods of burning were used. The first, consisted of using a heap of wood piled around a wooden stake above which a prisoner was attached with chains, and iron hoops. The Spanish Inquisition preferred this method as it had the greatest visual impact.The second method, mostly used on witches, was to tie the condemned to the stake and pile wood all around them, effectively hiding thier sufferings from sight so that they died inside a wall of flames.In this century the guillotine would be sent from Paris to the prison by rail and is erected in a suitable place during the night. Just before dawn the officials would go to the condemned man's cell and inform him that his appeal had failed and that he was to be executed immediately.He would be allowed a few minutes to pray with his priest before having his hands strapped behind his back and the collar of his shirt cut down.The prison register would be signed for the final time and the prisoner escorted to the guillotine by warders. On arrival he would immediately be strapped to the upright bascule and then turned horizontally and slid into the lunnette. The top of the lunnette would be brought down immediately followed by the release of the blade. The whole procedure typically took less than two minutes to complete.Various experiments have been made on guillotined heads and generally seem to show that little consciousness remains by 5 seconds after separation from the body, although, some have concluded that the head retains feeling for much longer. Whatever the truth the guillotine is probably one of the least cruel methods of execution and yet one that has a high deterrent value because it is so gruesome.Hanging is still the second most widely used method of execution in the world. At least 65 people were hanged in 1998 in some 10 countries.Hanging was concidered ideal because it produced a highly visable deterrant without the blood and gore of beheading, being simple and not requiring a skilled executioner at that time.Hanging produces death by strangulation (asphyxia) due to the wieght of the persons body pulling down on the noose, causing it to tighten, so constricting the trachea (air passage) and applying pressure to the large blood vessels in the neck. The condemned usually struggles for some time after suspention due to the physical pain caused by the noose.It can take several minutes for the person to lapse into unconsciousness. After suspention the face may become engorged and cyanosed (turn blue through lack of oxygen). The toungue may protrude and rippling movements of the body and limbs may occur which are usually attributed to nervous and muscular reflexes.After death the body usually shows marks of suspention, e.g. bruising and abrasion of the neck together with traces of urine , semen, and faeces.This form of death by asphyxia is known medically as anoxia and is the normal cause of death in suicide and hangings where there is no proper drop. The brain becomes starved of oxygen and death results usually within less than twenty minutes.This was the ultimate form of punishment in English law for men who had been convicted of high treason. The condemned was drawn to the place of execution on a hurdle. He was tied to the hurdle which was drawn by a horse. Once there the prisoners were hanged in the normal way (without a drop to ensure that the neck was not broken) but cut down while still conscious. The penis and testicles were cut off and the stomach was split open. Thier intestines were removed and burned before them. Thier organs were torn out and finally the head was cut off and the body divided into four quarters.The head and quarters were par-boiled to prevent from rotting too quickly and then displayed upon the city gates as a grim warning to all.At some point in this agonising process the prisoner inevitably died of strangling and/or haemorrhage and/or shock and damage to vital organs, but it often took a long time to happen. This is one of the most sadistic forms of execution ever invented.The traditional firing squad is made up of three to six shooters per prisoner who stand or kneel opposite the condemned who is usually tied to a stake. Normally the shooters aim at the chest, since this is easier to hit than the head. A firing squad aiming at the head produces the same type of wounds as those produced by a single bullet, but bullets fired at the chest rupture the heart, great vessels, and lungs so that the condemned person dies of haemorrhage and shock. It is not unusual for the officer in charge of the firing squad to have to give the prisoner a pistol shot to the head to finish them off after the initial volley has failed to kill them.Persons hit by bullets feel as if they have been punched. Pain comes later if the victim survives long enough to feel it.When all goes well shooting can provide a quick death. But there are many recorded instances of it failing to kill the condemned person immediately. There are also instances of people surviving thier execution. It would seem that one of the problems of the firing squad is that it is, typically, composed of volunteers rather than professional executioners and it is a task that many people would not find easy to preform when the time comes to actually squeeze the trigger. Shooting is always a gruesome bloody death.Between 1930 and 1980, 952 people were put to death in America's gas chambers.The California gas chamber at San. Quentin is in a basement room and is a pale green painted, octaginal metal box, six feet across, and eight feet high, built in 1938. There is a 30 foot high chimney outside to take the gas away.The enterance is through a rubber sealed door closed by a large locking wheel, and there are windows in five of the sides for the witnesses to view the execution.Inside the chamber are two identical metal chairs with perforated seats, marked "A" and "B" (the twin chairs were last used in a double execution in 1962) Two guards strap the prisoner into chair "A", attaching straps across his upper and lower legs, arms, thighs, and chest. They will also affix a long stethiscope to the persons chest so that a doctor on the outside can monitor the heart beat and pronounce death. Beneath the chair is a bowl filled with sulphuric acid mixed with distilled water, with a pound of sodium cyanide pellets suspended in a gauze bag just above. After the door is sealed, and when the warden gives the signal, the executioner in a seperate room operates a lever that releases the cyanide into the liquid. This causes a chemical reaction that releases hydrogen cyanide gas, which rises through the holes in the chair.Prisoners are advised to take deep breaths after the gas is released as this will conciderably shorten thier suffering. Easy for the warden to say, no doubt, but much harder for the prisoner to intentionaly inhale the gas designed to kill them, even if they accept the logic of the advise they are given.A typical witnesses view of gassing is as follows: " At first there is evidence of extreme horror, pain, and strangling. The eyes pop, the skin turns purple and the victim begins to drool".Victims of cyanide gas die from oxygen being cut off to the brain (hypoxia). The initial result of this is in spasms, as in epileptic siezure. Because of the straps, however, involuntairy body movements are restrained. Seconds after the prisoner first inhales, he/she will feel himself unable to breath, but will not lose consciousness immediately. The person is unquestionably experiencing pain, and extreme anxiety. The pain begins immediately and is felt in the arms, shoulders, back, and chest. The sensation is similar to the pain felt by a person during a heart attack.The prisoner will usually lose conciousness after three or four minutes, and the doctor will pronounce him dead in ten to twelve minutes. An exaust fan then sucks the poison air out of the chamber. Next the corpse is sprayed with ammonia, which neutrilizes traces of cyanide that may remain. After about half an hour, orderlies enter the chamber, wearing gas masks and rubber gloves. Thier training manual advises them to ruffle the victims hair to release any trapped cyanide gas before removing him.More than ninety murderers have been electrocuted in the U.S.A. since the Supreme Court reinstated capital punishment in 1976, making it the second most common method (after lethal injection). It is probably the most gruesome to watch.After being led into the execution chamber, the prisoner is strapped into the chair with leather belts across the chest, thighs, legs, and arms. Two copper electrodes are then attached - one to the leg, a patch of which will have been shaved bare to improve conductivity, and the other contained within a helmet to the shaved head. The electrodes are either soaked in brine or treated with gel (Electro-Creme) to increase conductivity and reduce burning.A leather face mask or black face cloth is applied. The prisoner will also be wearing a diaper.The executioner presses a button on the control panel to deliver a first shock of between 1700 and 2,400 volts, which lasts for between thirty seconds and a minute. This is automatically timed and controlled. The current must be under 6 amps to ensure the body does not cook. Smoke usually comes out of the prisoner's leg and head. A doctor then examines the prisoner who if not dead is given a further shock (In some states this is done automatically by the control gear) A third and fourth are given if necessary. (It took five jolts to kill Ethel Rosenberg)On average the process takes 2 min 10 seconds and two shocks are given.The first shock runs for up to one minute and normally destroys the brain and central nervous system. It also causes complete paralysis due to every muscle in the body contracting and staying contracted whilst the current is flowing. This makes heartbeat and respiration impossible. The second shock continues the process to ensure the heart beat does not resume. The prisoner is supposed to be rendered unconscious in 1/240th of a second.After electrocution the body temperature rises to about 138º F and is initially too hot to touch. heating destroys the body's proteins and "bakes" the organs.Physical reactions include heaving chest, gurgles, foaming at the mouth, bloody sweat, burning of the hair and skin, and release of faeces. The body has to be allowed to cool before an autopsy can be performed.According to Robert H. Kirschner, the deputy chief medical examiner of Cook County, Illinois, "The brain appears cooked in most cases."According to Judge Brennan the prisoner's eyeballs sometimes pop out and rest on [his] cheeks. The prisoner often defecates, urinates, and vomits blood and drool. The body turns bright red as its temperature rises, and the prisoner's flesh swells and his skin stretches to the point of breaking. Sometimes the prisoner catches on fire, particularly if he perspires excessively. Witnesses hear a loud and sustained sound like bacon frying, and the sickly sweet smell of burning flesh permeates the chamber.There is some debate about what the electrocuted prisoner experiences before he dies, many doctors believe that he feels himself being burned to death and suffocating, since the shock causes respiratory paralysis as well as cardiac arrest. According to Harold Hillman, "It must feel very similar to the medieval trial by ordeal of being dropped in boiling oil." Because the energy of the shock paralyses the prisoner's muscles, he cannot cry out. "My mouth tasted like cold peanut butter. I felt a burning in my head and my left leg, and I jumped against the straps," Willie Francis, a 17-year-old who survived an attempted execution in 1946, is reported to have said. Francis was successfully executed a year later.Lethal injection protocols vary from state to state. Typically the prisoner is strapped to a gurney (which is a wheeled hospital style trolley bed) or a fixed execution table (rather like an operating theatre table) by leather or webbing straps over the body and legs. Their bare arms are strapped to boards projecting from the sides of the gurney. Trained technicians then insert a catheter into a vein in each arm, a process that sounds much simpler than it often is. Once the catheters are in place tubes carrying saline solution are connected to the catheter ends and the prisoner is either wheeled into the execution chamber or the curtains surrounding it are drawn back to allow the witnesses to see the procedure. When the condemned person has made any final statement the prison warden gives the signal for the execution to begin and the technician(s), hidden from view behind a two way mirror begins to manually inject the three chemicals comprising typically 15 - 50 cc of Sodium thihpental, 15 - 50 cc of Pavulon (the generic name for pancuronium bromide and 15 - 50 cc of Potassium chloride. There is a short interval between each chemical during which saline solution is injected to clean the IV line and prevent a chemical reaction blocking it. Typically the actual injections will take from three to five minutes to complete.Sodium thiopental is a short acting barbiturate which causes unconsciousness quite quickly. Pavulon is a muscle relaxant that paralyses the diaphragm and thus arrests breathing whilst Potassium chloride finishes the job by causing cardiac arrest.In most cases the prisoner is unconscious about a minute after the Sodium thiopental has been injected and is dead in around eight minutes, with no obvious signs of physical suffering.In some states a fully automated lethal injection machine is used that runs off a 12 volt battery. It injects the chemicals in the right order and amount once the catheters are in place. This considerably assists matters and avoids the problems of mixing of the chemicals which can lead to a reaction causing precipitation which makes them impossible to inject. The machine has six syringes activated by mechanical plungers. Three syringes hold the lethal drugs; the other three contain harmless saline solution. Two buttons control the machine, one for the lethal syringes and one for the identical-looking harmless ones. The two executioners each press a button, and the syringes release the drugs into the IV line.
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