What was so inhumane about hanging?

Question

When it was done right, the spine would snap, killing the person instantly. Why do people think hanging was so much worse than, say, the gas chamber or electrocution? Hanging was probably quicker and MORE humane than those other methods.

Answer 1

I personally like the idea of taking everybody that is on deathrow, and putting them on an island.
Then, drop a nuke.
POOF!
No more murderers. Vacancies in Jail.
I actually think that is probably the most humane way to kill someone. They won't feel any pain at all.
They would be here one second, and the next second, only their shadows would remain.

I think that is what we should do.

Answer 2

You've said what would happen if hanging was done right, however, if it was done incorrectly, the person would slowly choke to death which would take some time or the person would simply wind up with a broken neck (which wasn't fatal). And more often than not, hanging was done incorrectly.

You're right that electrocution and the gas chamber are neither humane nor efficient.

The only true humane form of execution I think was the guillotine since the person died instantaneously and with little to no pain. This was stopped more because of the effect it had on the crowd witnessing the death rather than it's effectiveness as a tool of execution.

Personally, I think that if someone is convicted of a crime that results in the death penalty, the legal system should not be concerned with “humane” vs “inhumane” treatment or execution of the perpetrator. The person obviously committed an atrocious crime with no concern whatsoever of his or her “inhumane” treatment of their victim -- why are we so concerned then that their execution be humane?

Answer 3

Four methods of judicial hanging have been used in America.

The Short drop

Up to the 1850's, most hangings were carried out with little or no drop - often just one to two feet - the prisoner being hanged from a tree after being turned off the back of a cart, ladder or horse. This normally resulted in death by either strangulation or Carotid or Vagal reflex (pressure on the Carotid artery and or Vagal nerve which causes very rapid unconsciousness and cardiac arrest.)

Standard drop

A standard drop of around 4-5 feet was used in many hangings during the later part of the 19th century and into the early 20th century. A drop of this distance was rarely sufficient to break the prisoner's neck and they died by strangulation although in a lot of cases were knocked unconscious by the force of the drop and the impact of the knot against the side of the neck. A standard drop of 5 feet was used for the Lincoln conspirators (see below) despite significant weight variations.

Long drop

This was copied from England and was used in the 20th century by some states. It involved dropping the prisoner an exact measured length which was calculated according to their weight and modified if required to take account of their physique. The force of the drop combined with the position of the knot below their left ear was designed to break the prisoner's neck and thus cause instant unconsciousness, followed rapidly by death. The US Army manual gives a table of drops (see below) and this was used for the three post 1977 hangings.

The prisoner is weighed prior to execution and their weight in pounds (less an allowance of 14 pounds for the head) divided into 1020 to arrive at a drop in feet. It takes between half and three quarters of a second for the prisoner to reach the bottom of the drop, after the trap is sprung.

Sudden suspension

Instead of the conventional gallows that dropped the prisoner through a trap door, some states used a method where weights connected to the rope jerked the prisoner upwards when the weights were released by the hangman.

America had few "professional" hangmen, most hangings being carried out by the Sheriff of the County in which the person was sentenced. Perhaps the most notable hangman was George Maledon who was Judge Parker's hangman at Fort Smith and hanged at least 60 men on the 12 man gallows there over his 20 year term of office. He used 13 coil nooses made from high quality hemp, specially made for him in St. Louis. He was very particular in oiling the rope to ensure it ran freely and tested each rope with a sandbag to remove the stretch from it. His normal drop was 8 feet which almost always resulted in the prisoner's neck being broken. As he said, "I never hanged a man who came back to have the job done over." He received the very high fee of $100 per hanging.

In other places, the hangman could be the warden of the prison or a volunteer from the prison guards.

Where the drop is too long, it can result in decapitation, as occurred with the executions of "Black Jack" Tom Ketchum on April 26, 1901.

Other problems occurred from time to time to time such as the rope breaking, etc.

I think the use of chemicals is a bit more appropriate.

Answer 4

I just wanted to say, I really liked the laughing gas idea of emucompboy. So much so, I'd choose that way to go if I had a terminal disease or was in a situation where I could choose my own death.

At any rate, we need an execution that is quick, relatively painless and can't easily be messed up. Hanging fails the last test, so i don't think it should be a method of execution. For that matter, both lethal injection and the electric chair also fail those tests. So states that execute people are going to have to rethink the way that they are currently do so if want to claim to execute people 'humanely'.

Answer 5

I agree that hanging, if it was done by somebody as professional as Pierrepoint, was a quick way of killing someone. But I could never agree that the state killing anyone is a humane punishment. Apart from miscarriages of justice and a vengeance mentality, I believe that the person who commits a crime that warrants this kind of sentence should live out every mind numbingly slow second, minute and hour of their sentence in prison.

Answer 6

If done properly you are right, but often the executioners had no skill, desire or incentive to make the necessary calculations and create the properly controlled environment for the exact physics. In many cases the person dies from slow asphyxiation following serious neck and spine injury, which is inhumane.

Answer 7

Well said. I think a bullet in the back of the head is even more humane. Cheaper too.

Seriously, why is this not an option? How is a bullet in your head any less humane than a needle in your arm and being strapped onto a table?

Answer 8

Because the hangman could elect to do it wrong, in which case the victim is choking to death.

If we were interested in "humane," we'd do what dentists accidentally do sometimes. Administer a mix of laughing gas and oxygen, and decrease the oxygen flow after the guy's knocked out.

Answer 9

It was inhumane how everyone would come to watch it. It should of been done in a room where no-one could see.

These days it does not need to be done though because of injection.

Answer 10

Actually, I've heard accounts of officers in other countries talk about hanging sometimes takes a while, especially if you're not heavy enough.

The quickest way would be a rifle headshot it seems