List of methods of capital punishment: Difference between revisions

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This is a list of methods of capital punishment, also known as execution.

Current methods[edit]

Method	Description
Hanging	One of the two most prevalent methods, in use in most countries still retaining capital punishment, usually with a calculated drop to cause neck fracture and instant loss of consciousness. Used by Afghanistan, Bahamas, Bangladesh, Botswana, Egypt, Gaza Strip, India, Iran, Iraq, Japan, Jordan, Kuwait, Lebanon, Liberia, Malaysia, Myanmar, Pakistan, Saint Kitts and Nevis, Singapore, South Sudan, Sudan, and Syria. In Iran, short-drop hanging is used. This involves pulling a stool out from below the condemned. The drop is too short to cause breakage of the neck, resulting in a slower death from strangulation.
Shooting	The other most prevalent method. Can be applied: By a single shot (such as a shot to the back of a head or heart, as in Afghanistan, Belarus, China, DR Congo, Ethiopia, Gaza Strip, Libya, Myanmar, Saudi Arabia, Sudan, Taiwan, Yemen, and Russia before the moratorium). By machine gun (as in Thailand before the switch to lethal injection). By firing squad (as in parts of the United States, Bahrain, Cuba, Nigeria, North Korea, Indonesia, Oman, Somalia, Somaliland, Tajikistan, Qatar, Uganda, and the United Arab Emirates). Supposedly, by excessively powerful weaponry such as anti-aircraft guns, according to various media sources, practised in North Korea.^[1]^[2]^[3]
Lethal injection	First used in the United States in 1982, lethal injection has since been adopted by China, Guatemala, Maldives, Nigeria, Taiwan, Thailand, and Vietnam. Now only legal in South Carolina as a secondary method.
Nitrogen hypoxia	First used in the United States in 2024, nitrogen hypoxia has since been adopted by Alabama, Louisiana, Mississippi, and Oklahoma as a secondary method. As of yet, no other countries have adopted nitrogen hypoxia.
Electrocution	Only ever used by the United States and Philippines. Only South Carolina has it as the primary method. Now only legal in Alabama, Arkansas, Florida, Kentucky, Louisiana, Mississippi, Oklahoma, and Tennessee as a secondary method.
Gas chamber	Only ever used by the United States and Lithuania. Now only legal in Arizona, California, Missouri, and Wyoming as a secondary method.
Decapitation	Used at various points in history in many countries. One of the most famous methods was the guillotine. Now only used in Saudi Arabia with a sword.
Stoning	The victim is battered by stones thrown by a group of people with the injuries leading to death. It is legal in Afghanistan, Iran, Iraq, Mauritania, Northern Nigeria, Saudi Arabia, Somalia, Yemen, and since 2014, in Brunei.

Former methods[edit]

Many of the former methods combine execution with torture, often intending to make a spectacle of pain and suffering with overtones of sadism, cruelty, intimidation, and dehumanisation, at times aimed at attempting to deter the commission of offences.

Method	Description
Animals	Crushing by elephant.^[4] Biting by animals, as in damnatio ad bestias (i.e., the cliché, "being thrown to the lions"), as well as crocodiles and sharks. Tearing apart by horses (e.g., in medieval Europe and Imperial China, with four horses; or "quartering", with four horses, as in The Song of Roland), variant with tearing apart by camels was sometimes used in the Middle East. Trampling by horses (example: Al-Musta'sim, the last Abbasid Caliph in Baghdad). Poena cullei, used during the Roman Empire. The victim was stuffed into a sack with a number of animals and thrown into a body of water.
Asphyxia	Suffocation in ash. Carbon monoxide poisoning by burning coal in a sealed room.^[5] Premature burial. Used for Vestal virgins who broke their vows. By strangulation. The result of short-drop hanging (only used in Iran in modern times). By garrote. Used in Spain and former Spanish colonies (e.g., the Philippines).
Back-breaking	A Mongolian method of execution that avoided the spilling of blood on the ground^[6] (example: the Mongolian leader Jamukha was probably executed this way in 1206).^[7]
Blowing from a gun	Tying to the mouth of a cannon, which is then fired.
Blood eagle	Cutting the skin of the victim by the spine, breaking the ribs so they resembled blood-stained wings, and pulling the lungs out through the wounds in the victim's back. Possibly used by the Vikings (of disputed historicity).
Boiling	Carried out using a large cauldron filled with water, oil, tar, tallow, or even molten lead.
Breaking wheel	Also known as the Catherine wheel, after Catherine of Alexandria who was executed by this method.
Burning	At the stake. Infamous as a method of execution for heretics and witches. A slower method of applying single pieces of burning wood was used by Native Americans to torture their captives to death.^[8] Molten metal. Marcus Licinius Crassus and Pavlo Pavliuk were supposedly killed this way. The execution method is associated with counterfeits (by pouring down the neck) or traitors (by pouring on the head).^[9] Brazen bull. The victim was put inside an iron bull statue and then cooked alive after a fire was lit under it (of disputed historicity).
Crushing	By a weight, abruptly or as a slow ordeal. Giles Corey and John Darren Caymo were killed this way.
Disembowelment	Often employed as a supplementary part of the execution, e.g., with drawing in hanging, drawing, and quartering.
Dismemberment	Used as punishment for high treason in the Ancien régime; also used by several others countries at various points in history.
Drowning	Execution by drowning is attested very early in history, by a large variety of cultures, and as the method of execution for many different offences.
Drawing and quartering	English method of execution for high treason.
Falling	The victim is thrown off a height or into a hollow (example: the Barathron in Athens, into which the Athenian generals condemned for their part in the battle of Arginusae were cast).^[10] In Argentina during the Dirty War, those secretly abducted were later drugged and thrown from an airplane into the ocean.
Flaying	The removal of the entire skin.
Impalement	The penetration of the body by an object such as a stake, pole, spear, or hook, often by complete or partial perforation of the torso.
Keelhauling	European maritime punishment of dragging the victim against the barnacles on a ship. (Not usually intended to be lethal.)
Poisoning	Before modern times, sayak (사약, 賜藥) was the method used for nobles (yangban) and royals during the Joseon Dynasty in Korea due to the Confucianist belief that one may kill a seonbi but may not insult him (사가살불가욕, 士可殺不可辱). Poisoning by drinking an infusion of hemlock was used as a method of execution in Ancient Greece (e.g., the death of Socrates).
Sawing	Practiced by sawing or cutting a victim in half, either sagittally (usually midsagittally), or transversely.
Scaphism	An Ancient Persian method of execution in which the condemned was placed in between two boats, force-fed a mixture of milk and honey, and left floating in a stagnant pond. The victim would then suffer from severe diarrhoea, which would attract insects that would burrow and nest in the victim, eventually causing death from sepsis. Of disputed historicity.
Slow slicing	The methodical removal of portions of the body over an extended period of time, usually with a knife, eventually resulting in death. Sometimes known as "death by a thousand cuts". Pendulum.^[11] A machine with an axe head for a weight that slices closer to the victim's torso over time (of disputed historicity).
Starvation	Crucifixion. Roping or nailing to a wooden cross or similar apparatus (such as a tree) and leaving to perish. The crucifixion of Jesus is the most notable instance of this method. Gibbeting. The victim is placed in cage hanging from a gallows-type structure in a public location and left to die to deter other existing or potential criminals. Immurement. The confinement of the victim by walling in. Though this was also used as a form of imprisonment for life, in which case, the victim was usually fed.

References[edit]

^ "North Korea dictator Kim Jong Un's executions: anti-aircraft guns, flamethrowers, mortars". foxnews.com. 22 September 2017.
^ "North Korean defector reveals horror of Kim Jong-un's teenage sex slaves". independent.co.uk. 21 September 2017.
^ McKirdy, Euan (February 28, 2017). "N. Korea executed 5 security officials, S. Korea says". cnn.com.
^ "This Won't Hurt a Bit: A Painlessly Short (and Incomplete) Evolution of Execution". neatorama.com.
^ Penney, David G. (2000) Carbon Monoxide Toxicity, CRC Press, p. 5, ISBN 0-8493-2065-8.
^ Saunders, J. J. (1 March 2001). The History of the Mongol Conquests. University of Pennsylvania Press. p. 53. ISBN 0812217667 – via Google Books.
^ The Secret History of the Mongols, book 8, chapter 201.
^ Frederick Drimmer (ed.) "Captured by the Indians - 15 Firsthand Accounts, 1750-1870", Dover Publications, Mineola, N.Y., 1985.
^ "Here is what happened during an execution by molten gold | Smart News | Smithsonian Magazine".
^ Xenophon, "Hellenica", book I, chapter VII.
^ R.D. Melville (1905), "The Use and Forms of Judicial Torture in England and Scotland," The Scottish Historical Review, vol. 2, p. 228; Geoffrey Abbott (2006) Execution: the guillotine, the Pendulum, the Thousand Cuts, the Spanish Donkey, and 66 Other Ways of Putting Someone to Death, MacMillan, ISBN 0-312-35222-0, p. 213. Both of these refer to the use of the pendulum (pendola) by inquisitorial tribunals. Melville, however, refers only to its use as a torture method, while Abbott suggests that the device was purposely allowed to kill the victim if he refused to confess.

External links[edit]

Death Penalty Worldwide: Academic research database on the laws, practice, and statistics of capital punishment for every death penalty country in the world.
Smile of death: China History Punishment

[1] "North Korea dictator Kim Jong Un's executions: anti-aircraft guns, flamethrowers, mortars". foxnews.com. 22 September 2017.

[2] "North Korean defector reveals horror of Kim Jong-un's teenage sex slaves". independent.co.uk. 21 September 2017.

[3] McKirdy, Euan (February 28, 2017). "N. Korea executed 5 security officials, S. Korea says". cnn.com.

[4] "This Won't Hurt a Bit: A Painlessly Short (and Incomplete) Evolution of Execution". neatorama.com.

[5] Penney, David G. (2000) Carbon Monoxide Toxicity, CRC Press, p. 5, ISBN 0-8493-2065-8.

[6] Saunders, J. J. (1 March 2001). The History of the Mongol Conquests. University of Pennsylvania Press. p. 53. ISBN 0812217667 – via Google Books.

[7] The Secret History of the Mongols, book 8, chapter 201.

[8] Frederick Drimmer (ed.) "Captured by the Indians - 15 Firsthand Accounts, 1750-1870", Dover Publications, Mineola, N.Y., 1985.

[9] "Here is what happened during an execution by molten gold | Smart News | Smithsonian Magazine".

[10] Xenophon, "Hellenica", book I, chapter VII.

[11] R.D. Melville (1905), "The Use and Forms of Judicial Torture in England and Scotland," The Scottish Historical Review, vol. 2, p. 228; Geoffrey Abbott (2006) Execution: the guillotine, the Pendulum, the Thousand Cuts, the Spanish Donkey, and 66 Other Ways of Putting Someone to Death, MacMillan, ISBN 0-312-35222-0, p. 213. Both of these refer to the use of the pendulum (pendola) by inquisitorial tribunals. Melville, however, refers only to its use as a torture method, while Abbott suggests that the device was purposely allowed to kill the victim if he refused to confess.

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@@ Line 6: / Line 6: @@
 ! Method !! Description
 |-
-| align="centre" | [[Hanging]]||One of the two most prevalent methods, in use in most countries still retaining capital punishment, usually with a calculated drop to cause neck fracture and instant loss of consciousness. Notably used by [[Capital punishment in India|India]], [[Capital punishment in Japan|Japan]], [[Capital punishment in Singapore|Singapore]], [[Capital punishment in Malaysia|Malaysia]], [[Capital punishment in Pakistan|Pakistan]], and [[Capital punishment in Iran|Iran]].
+| align="centre" | [[Hanging]]||One of the two most prevalent methods, in use in most countries still retaining capital punishment, usually with a calculated drop to cause neck fracture and instant loss of consciousness. Used by [[Capital punishment in Afghanistan|Afghanistan]], [[Capital punishment in the Bahamas|Bahamas]], [[Capital punishment in Bangladesh|Bangladesh]], [[Capital punishment in Botswana|Botswana]], [[Capital punishment in Egypt|Egypt]], [[Capital punishment in the Gaza Strip|Gaza Strip]], [[Capital punishment in India|India]], [[Capital punishment in Iran|Iran]], [[Capital punishment in Iraq|Iraq]], [[Capital punishment in Japan|Japan]], [[Capital punishment in Jordan|Jordan]], [[Capital punishment in Kuwait|Kuwait]], [[Capital punishment in Lebanon|Lebanon]], [[Capital punishment in Liberia|Liberia]], [[Capital punishment in Malaysia|Malaysia]], [[Capital punishment in Myanmar|Myanmar]], [[Capital punishment in Pakistan|Pakistan]], [[Capital punishment in Saint Kitts and Nevis|Saint Kitts and Nevis]], [[Capital punishment in Singapore|Singapore]], [[Capital punishment in South Sudan|South Sudan]], [[Capital punishment in Sudan|Sudan]], and [[Capital punishment in Syria|Syria]].
 *In Iran, short-drop hanging is used. This involves pulling a stool out from below the condemned. The drop is too short to cause breakage of the neck, resulting in a slower death from strangulation.
 |-
 | align="centre" | [[Execution by shooting|Shooting]]||The other most prevalent method. Can be applied:
-* By a single shot (such as a shot to the back of a head or heart, as in [[Capital punishment in China|China]], [[Capital punishment in Taiwan|Taiwan]], [[Capital punishment in Belarus|Belarus]], and [[Capital punishment in Russia|Russia]] before the moratorium).
+* By a single shot (such as a shot to the back of a head or heart, as in Afghanistan, [[Capital punishment in Belarus|Belarus]], [[Capital punishment in China|China]], [[Capital punishment in the Democratic Republic of the Congo|DR Congo]], [[Capital punishment in Ethiopia|Ethiopia]], Gaza Strip, [[Capital punishment in Libya|Libya]], Myanmar, [[Capital punishment in Saudi Arabia|Saudi Arabia]], Sudan, [[Capital punishment in Taiwan|Taiwan]], [[Capital punishment in Yemen|Yemen]], and [[Capital punishment in Russia|Russia]] before the moratorium).
 * By machine gun (as in [[Capital punishment in Thailand|Thailand]] before the switch to lethal injection).
-* By [[Execution by firing squad|firing squad]] (as in the [[Capital punishment in the United States|United States]], [[Capital punishment in Indonesia|Indonesia]], and [[Capital punishment in Qatar|Qatar]]). Now only legal in Idaho, Mississippi, Oklahoma, South Carolina, and Utah as a secondary method.
+* By [[Execution by firing squad|firing squad]] (as in parts of the [[Capital punishment in the United States|United States]], Bahrain, [[Capital punishment in Cuba|Cuba]], [[Capital punishment in Nigeria|Nigeria]], [[Capital punishment in North Korea|North Korea]], [[Capital punishment in Indonesia|Indonesia]], [[Capital punishment in Oman|Oman]], [[Capital punishment in Somalia|Somalia]], Somaliland, [[Capital punishment in Tajikistan|Tajikistan]], [[Capital punishment in Qatar|Qatar]], [[Capital punishment in Uganda|Uganda]], and the [[Capital punishment in the United Arab Emirates|United Arab Emirates]]).
-* Supposedly, by excessively powerful weaponry such as anti-aircraft guns, according to various media sources, practised in [[Capital punishment in North Korea|North Korea]].<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.foxnews.com/world/2017/09/22/north-korea-dictator-kim-jong-uns-executions-anti-aircraft-guns-flamethrowers-mortars.html|title=North Korea dictator Kim Jong Un's executions: anti-aircraft guns, flamethrowers, mortars|date=22 September 2017|website=foxnews.com}}</ref><ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.independent.co.uk/news/world/asia/north-korea-defector-anti-aircraft-guns-execution-kim-jong-un-killed-sex-slaves-pyongyang-porn-film-a7959851.html|title=North Korean defector reveals horror of Kim Jong-un's teenage sex slaves|date=21 September 2017|website=independent.co.uk}}</ref><ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.cnn.com/2017/02/28/asia/north-korea-officials-executed/index.html|title=N. Korea executed 5 security officials, S. Korea says|first=Euan|last=McKirdy|date=February 28, 2017|website=cnn.com}}</ref>
+* Supposedly, by excessively powerful weaponry such as anti-aircraft guns, according to various media sources, practised in North Korea.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.foxnews.com/world/2017/09/22/north-korea-dictator-kim-jong-uns-executions-anti-aircraft-guns-flamethrowers-mortars.html|title=North Korea dictator Kim Jong Un's executions: anti-aircraft guns, flamethrowers, mortars|date=22 September 2017|website=foxnews.com}}</ref><ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.independent.co.uk/news/world/asia/north-korea-defector-anti-aircraft-guns-execution-kim-jong-un-killed-sex-slaves-pyongyang-porn-film-a7959851.html|title=North Korean defector reveals horror of Kim Jong-un's teenage sex slaves|date=21 September 2017|website=independent.co.uk}}</ref><ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.cnn.com/2017/02/28/asia/north-korea-officials-executed/index.html|title=N. Korea executed 5 security officials, S. Korea says|first=Euan|last=McKirdy|date=February 28, 2017|website=cnn.com}}</ref>
 |-
-| align="centre" |[[Lethal injection]]||First used in the United States in 1982, lethal injection has since been adopted by China, Taiwan, Thailand, [[Capital punishment in Guatemala|Guatemala]], and [[Capital punishment in Vietnam|Vietnam]].
+| align="centre" |[[Lethal injection]]||First used in the United States in 1982, lethal injection has since been adopted by China, [[Capital punishment in Guatemala|Guatemala]], [[Capital punishment in the Maldives|Maldives]], Nigeria, Taiwan, Thailand, and [[Capital punishment in Vietnam|Vietnam]]. Now only legal in South Carolina as a secondary method.
 |-
 |-
-| align="centre" |[[Inert gas asphyxiation|Nitrogen hypoxia]]||First used in the United States in 2024, nitrogen hypoxia has since been adopted by Alabama, Mississippi, and Oklahoma as a secondary method.
+| align="centre" |[[Inert gas asphyxiation|Nitrogen hypoxia]]||First used in the United States in 2024, nitrogen hypoxia has since been adopted by Alabama, Louisiana, Mississippi, and Oklahoma as a secondary method. As of yet, no other countries have adopted nitrogen hypoxia.
 |-
-| align="centre" |[[Electric chair|Electrocution]]||Only ever used by the United States and [[Capital punishment in the Philippines|Philippines]]. Only South Carolina has it as the primary method. Now only legal in Alabama, Arkansas, Florida, Kentucky, Mississippi, Oklahoma, and Tennessee as a secondary method.
+| align="centre" |[[Electric chair|Electrocution]]||Only ever used by the United States and [[Capital punishment in the Philippines|Philippines]]. Only South Carolina has it as the primary method. Now only legal in Alabama, Arkansas, Florida, Kentucky, Louisiana, Mississippi, Oklahoma, and Tennessee as a secondary method.
 |-
 | align="centre" |[[Gas chamber]]||Only ever used by the United States and [[Capital punishment in Lithuania|Lithuania]]. Now only legal in Arizona, California, Missouri, and Wyoming as a secondary method.
 |-
-| align="centre" |[[Decapitation]]||Used at various points in history in many countries. One of the most famous methods was the [[guillotine]]. Now only used in [[Capital punishment in Saudi Arabia|Saudi Arabia]] with a sword.
+| align="centre" |[[Decapitation]]||Used at various points in history in many countries. One of the most famous methods was the [[guillotine]]. Now only used in Saudi Arabia with a sword.
 |-
 | align="centre" |[[Stoning]]
-|The victim is battered by stones thrown by a group of people with the injuries leading to death. It is legal in [[Capital punishment in Somalia|Somalia]], Saudi Arabia, [[Capital punishment in Iraq|Iraq]], [[Capital punishment in Nigeria|Northern Nigeria]], [[Capital punishment in Mauritania|Mauritania]], Iran, [[Capital punishment in Yemen|Yemen]], and since 2014, in [[Capital punishment in Brunei|Brunei]].
+|The victim is battered by stones thrown by a group of people with the injuries leading to death. It is legal in Afghanistan, Iran, Iraq, [[Capital punishment in Mauritania|Mauritania]], Northern Nigeria, Saudi Arabia, Somalia, Yemen, and since 2014, in [[Capital punishment in Brunei|Brunei]].
 |}
@@ Line 56: / Line 56: @@
 | align="centre" | [[Blood eagle]]||Cutting the skin of the victim by the spine, breaking the ribs so they resembled blood-stained wings, and pulling the lungs out through the wounds in the victim's back. Possibly used by the [[Vikings]] (of disputed historicity).
 |-
-| align="centre" | [[Boiling to death]]||Carried out using a large cauldron filled with water, oil, tar, tallow, or even molten lead.
+| align="centre" | [[Death by boiling|Boiling]]||Carried out using a large cauldron filled with water, oil, tar, tallow, or even molten lead.
 |-
 | align="centre" | [[Breaking wheel]]||Also known as the Catherine wheel, after [[Catherine of Alexandria]] who was executed by this method.
 |-
-| align="centre" | [[Execution by burning|Burning]]||
+| align="centre" | [[Death by burning|Burning]]||
 * At the stake. Infamous as a method of execution for [[Heresy|heretics]] and [[Witchcraft|witches]]. A slower method of applying single pieces of burning wood was used by [[Indigenous peoples of North America|Native Americans]] to torture their captives to death.<ref>Frederick Drimmer (ed.) ''"Captured by the Indians - 15 Firsthand Accounts, 1750-1870"'', Dover Publications, Mineola, N.Y., 1985.</ref>
 * Molten metal. [[Marcus Licinius Crassus]] and [[Pavlo Pavliuk]] were supposedly killed this way. The execution method is associated with counterfeits (by pouring down the neck) or traitors (by pouring on the head).<ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.smithsonianmag.com/smart-news/heres-what-happened-people-who-were-executed-having-molten-gold-poured-down-their-throat-180951695/|title=Here is what happened during an execution by molten gold {{!}} Smart News {{!}} Smithsonian Magazine}}</ref>
@@ Line 85: / Line 85: @@
 | align="centre" | [[Poisoning]] || Before modern times, sayak (사약, 賜藥) was the method used for nobles (''[[yangban]]'') and royals during the [[Joseon Dynasty]] in [[Korea]] due to the [[Confucianist]] belief that one may kill a [[seonbi]] but may not insult him (사가살불가욕, 士可殺不可辱). Poisoning by drinking an infusion of [[Conium maculatum|hemlock]] was used as a method of execution in Ancient Greece (e.g., the [[Trial of Socrates|death of Socrates]]).
 |-
-| align="centre" | [[Sawing (torture)|Sawing]]|| Practiced by sawing or cutting a victim in half, either sagittally (usually midsagittally), or transversely.
+| align="centre" | [[Death by sawing|Sawing]]|| Practiced by sawing or cutting a victim in half, either sagittally (usually midsagittally), or transversely.
 |-
 | align="centre" | [[Scaphism]]|| An Ancient [[Persian Empire|Persian]] method of execution in which the condemned was placed in between two boats, force-fed a mixture of milk and honey, and left floating in a stagnant pond. The victim would then suffer from severe diarrhoea, which would attract insects that would burrow and nest in the victim, eventually causing death from [[sepsis]]. Of disputed historicity.

v t e Capital punishment
Current judicial methods	Hanging Shooting firing squad Lethal injection Nitrogen hypoxia Electrocution Gas chamber Beheading Stoning
Ancient and Post-classical methods	Damnatio ad bestias Blood eagle Blowing from a gun Brazen bull Boiling Breaking wheel Burial Burning Crucifixion Crushing Decimation Disembowelment Dismemberment Drowning Republican marriage Elephant Falling Flaying Garrote Gibbeting Guillotine Hanged, drawn and quartered Immurement Impalement Ishikozume Mazzatello Sawing Scaphism Slow slicing Stoning Suffocation in ash Upright jerker Waist chop
Related topics	Enforcement or use by country Most recent executions by country Crime Death row Final statement Last meal Penology List of methods Religion and capital punishment Wrongful execution Botched execution Resolutions concerning death penalty at the United Nations Capital punishment for drug trafficking Capital punishment for homosexuality

Latest revision as of 18:31, 30 May 2024

Current methods[edit]

Former methods[edit]

See also[edit]

References[edit]

External links[edit]