why does hanging (execution) cause death? Is it quick and painless?

Answer 1

modern hanging breaks the cervical spine in the neck and death is instant.The knot is always placed at the side of the neck , so when you take the drop it snaps the spine . Pierpoint the last official executioner in the UK could perform this from start, ie entry to the chamber to the drop in 11 seconds . A doctor is always present to pronounce death. death by lawful homocide is recorded. A few people survived this, in which case they would be taken strait to hospital , and were free afterwards

Answer 2

There are four methods of performing a judicial hanging — the short drop, suspension hanging, the standard drop, and the long drop. Medical experts consider hanging, properly done, to be the most humane form of judicial execution.

The short drop
The short drop is done by placing the condemned person on the back of a cart, horse, or other vehicle, with the noose around his neck. The vehicle is then moved away leaving the person dangling from the rope. Prior to 1850, it was the main method used. It is still used widely in Middle Eastern countries. A ladder was also commonly used with the condemned being forced to ascend, after which the noose was tied and the ladder pulled away or turned, leaving the victim hanging. A person hanged in this way would be said to have been "turned off".

Suspension hanging
Suspension hanging is similar, except the gallows themselves are movable, so that the noose can be raised once the condemned is in place. This method is currently used in Iran, where tank gun barrels or mobile cranes are used to hoist the condemned into the air. Similar methods involve running the rope through a pulley to allow raising of the person.

The standard drop
The standard drop, which arrived as calculated in English units, involved a drop of between four to six feet and came into use in the mid 19th century in English-speaking countries and those where judicial systems were under English influence. It was considered an advance on the short drop because it was intended to be sufficient to break the person's neck, causing immediate paralysis and immobilization (and perhaps immediate unconsciousness--though this matter is questioned).

The long drop
This process, also known as the measured drop, was introduced in 1872 by William Marwood as a scientific advancement to the standard drop. Instead of everyone falling the same standard distance, the persons's weight was used to determine how much slack would be provided in the rope so that the distance dropped would be enough to ensure that the neck was broken.

Prior to 1892, the drop was between four and ten feet (about one to three meters), depending on the weight of the body, and was calculated to deliver a force of 1,260 lbf (5,600 newtons or 572 kgf), which fractured the neck at either the 2nd and 3rd or 4th and 5th cervical vertebrae. However, this force resulted in some decapitations, such as the famous case of "Black Jack" Tom Ketchum in New Mexico in 1901. Between 1892 and 1913, the length of the drop was shortened to avoid doing so. After 1913, other factors were also taken into account and the force delivered was reduced to about 1000 lbf (4,400 N or 450 kgf). (see also British Official Table of Drops)

Answer 3

Two ways it may kill:
1- If done improperly, asphyxiation and cut off of circulation to the brain. This is distressing and inhumane and causes a slow death- there is a characteristic 'Hangman's dance', as the person struggles.

2- If done properly, the person will die immediately. This is because the force of the fall causes the neck to break. The way it breaks is called a 'Hangman's fracture'. What happens is the dens (bit sticking upwards) of the Axis bone (C2-second vertebrae) shifts backwards and crushes the spinal column in the Atlas (C1- first vertebrae). This is the humane end of a hanging.

Both do not really happen at the same time...it's one or the other.

Answer 4

First of all, hanging and execution are not synonymous. Hanging is just one method of execution, as are firing squad, lethal injection and so on.

Hanging causes death, usually, by breaking the neck. This is why it involves being suddenly pushed off something, or dropping through a suddenly opened trapdoor. The suddeness of the fall being halted by the rope causes the neck to break.

If you are hung slowly, for whatever reason (be it sadistic or amateur executioners, self hanging, or simply by accident), it will still cause death by preventing you from breathing due to the tightness of the rope around your neck, accentuated by your body weight on the rope.

Answer 5

Hanging causes death through suffocation and by breaking the spinal cord at the base of the neck. It is a painful and slow death. A young student at university with my daughter decided to commit suicide by hanging. After he had set the plan into action, the rope around his neck, the ladder pushed away - it would appear as though he had second thoughts. His neck was covered in scratches where he, apparently, desperately tried to remove the rope from his neck - sadly, in vain.

Answer 6

It causes death in one of two ways.
Either by breaking the spine in the neck which is a very quick death.
Or if you are unlucky by suffocation which is a slow and extremely painful death lasting anywhere from a few minutes to several hours depending upon the noose and other factors.

Answer 7

When Albert Pierrpoint was the official hangman the quickest he ever executed anyone was seven seconds. And that was taking them from the condemned cell to actually hanging dead on the end of the rope.The condemned cell was actually next to the gallows the prisoner would be walked onto the trap door where the hang mans assistant would strap his ankles and would then literally have to throw himself off the trap door before the lever was pulled.

Answer 8

In most cases, hanging would cause an instantaneous death after the initial jerk from being dropped. The neck breaks if it is done humanely. The other way the hanged die is by asphyxiation, which is a slow painful death.

Answer 9

Normally the way the noose is positioned the weight of the body as it falls through the trap breaks the neck and causes instant death, its the thought of dying as they walk to the gallows is more painful

Answer 10

When the body falls the jerk when the noose pulls tight should break the neck which would be instant and probably the least painful.

If the neck isn't broken then it pulls tight and death is caused by strangulation, this I imagine would not be nice