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Execution
is where
state
authorities
kill
someone for having committed an extremely serious
crime
, usually
treason
or especially terrible
murders
. In most
countries
where the
death penalty
is still provided for by
law
, using it is an option available to the sentencing
judge
: even if the jury or judicial panel recommends the death penalty, the presiding judge still has the option to lock the convicted person in a
prison
for the rest of their life. A person whose job is to execute others is an
executioner
.
Beheading means cutting the person's head off. It is one of the oldest execution methods and mentioned in the
Bible
. Beheading used to be the standard method of execution in
Scandinavia
and
Germany
. Commoners were usually beheaded with an
axe
and noblemen with a
sword
. A special device, like the
guillotine
, may be used, as in
France
.
Nazi Germany
used the guillotine to execute criminal convicts, such as murderers.
Many countries formerly used beheading as an execution for important people, including England. In England, many noblemen and even some kings and queens have been beheaded. There, the prisoner would be led up the scaffold and might be allowed a last speech. Then, he/she would be blindfolded and put his/her neck onto a block. Then, the executioner would lift up his axe and swing it down onto the victim's neck. If the executioner was skilled and the axe was sharp, then the axe would usually cut through the bone and organs of the victim in one stroke. But if the executioner was inexperienced, then it might take several strokes before the head was cut off.
Many countries do not allow executions as punishment any more, because it is too violent or
immoral
. However, many
states
of the
United States
and some other countries use it. In the United States, less violent ways of execution are used than in the past. Here are some ways of executing people:
- Hanging
: Using a rope to either break the convict's neck or to choke (or
strangle
) them. Widely used around the world until the 20th century. Still today in use in some countries, such as
Iraq
,
Singapore
and
Japan
.
- Firing Squad
: Several people shoot and kill a person. Armies around the world have long used this method, since guns and bullets are readily available. Firing squad was the lawful means of execution in
Finland
until 1944, when death penalty was abolished (stopped by the law). It was also used in the state of
Utah
in the 20th century. In most cases, not all the shooters have real bullets. After the execution, it is not possible to determine which of the people firing killed the person just executed.
- Gas chamber
: killing a person by filling the air in a room with
poison gas
until the person cannot breathe and dies. This method was used for executions in some U.S. states, and for
mass murder
by the
Schutzstaffel
during
the Holocaust
.
- Crucifixion
: a person (or their
corpse
) is fixed to a
timber
by
nails
or by
impalement
. The
Romans
used crucifixion to punish traitors, rebels and runaway slaves because the Romans considered it the most unpleasant death. Death by this method may take days. Besides
ancient Greece
,
ancient Rome
, and the Persian empires, this method was also used in feudal Japan.
- Drawing and Quartering
: A violent form of execution common in Medieval and Renaissance Europe. It involved taking a person's organs out while they were still alive.
- Breaking on the wheel
: the executioner breaks all the bones of a person's
limbs
with a heavy object. The executioner wraps the person's limbs around a wheel from a
carriage
, and lifts the wheel to the top of a tall pole. Slowly, the person dies.
- Crushing
, also called
pressing
: used in the
common law
legal systems. A
defendant
who refused to plead ("stood mute") would be subjected to having heavier and heavier
stones
placed upon their
chest
until a plea was entered or the person
suffocated
.
- Garroting
, a method of strangulation used in
Spain
for hundreds of years.