Gallows the death penalty of two girls watch online. How cruel is a person: types and methods of the death penalty of the past

The information below is drawn from many sources, including textbooks on pathology, the Journal of Forensic Medicine, accounts of hanging survivors, reports from the 17th and 19th centuries, photographs taken in a later era, and reports from an official in charge of overseeing execution of sentences and who, along with many impeccably executed executions, witnessed two cases of "marriage".

With the usual slow hanging, suffocation, as a rule, does not occur from pressure on the trachea, the windpipe. Rather, the pressure of the loop shifts the base of the tongue backwards - upwards and thereby causes the cessation of breathing.

Many pathologists believe that relatively little pressure is enough to completely cut off the air supply, which means that the hanged man is completely unable to breathe. This may again depend on the position of the loop. If the knot is in front, there may be slight pressure on the airways.

Another cause of death is the cessation of blood supply to the brain due to clamping of the carotid arteries. This alone would have been enough to cause death, a fact proven by several cases of people accidentally hanging themselves to death while the airway was left wide enough for breathing.

There is still a little blood flow to the brain - there are vertebral arteries that, in the place where the loop is usually located, pass inside the spine and are protected from compression - but this is not enough to maintain the viability of the brain for a long time.

HANGING PROCESS

● Initial stage (15-45 seconds)

The noose rises abruptly, causing the mouth to close (a common mistake in staging hanging scenes in films - the mouth is often shown open). The tongue rarely protrudes from the mouth, because the lower jaw is pressed with considerable force. There are exceptions when the loop has been placed low and moves up, pressing on the tongue before it presses the jaw - in these cases the tongue is strongly bitten.

Survivors testify to a feeling of pressure in the head and clenched jaws. The feeling of weakness makes it difficult to grasp the rope. It is also said that the pain is mainly felt from the pressure of the rope, and not from suffocation. The feeling of suffocation, of course, increases with the passage of time.

Often, a newly hanged victim in a panic begins to kick or tries to reach the ground with his fingertips. These convulsive movements of the legs are different from the real agony, which begins later.

In other cases, the hanged man hangs almost motionless at first, perhaps because the body is numb with pain. If the hands are tied in front, they rise sharply to the middle of the chest, usually clenched into fists.

In most cases, the blood does not rush to the face. The noose cuts off the blood supply to the head, so that the face remains white and turns blue as it is strangled. In some cases, if the blood supply is partially preserved, the face turns red.

Sometimes there is bleeding from the mouth and nose. Most likely, this is actually a nosebleed in cases where blood pressure rises in the head.

Sometimes foam or bloody foam comes out of the mouth - apparently in cases where the airways are not completely closed and some air enters the lungs, despite the loop.

● Loss of consciousness

Generally speaking, the hanged man retains consciousness only for a short time, although it may seem like an eternity. Judging by the stories of survivors and pathological studies, loss of consciousness can occur after 8-10 seconds due to the cessation of blood circulation, and maybe after about a minute. Few survivors of hanging report being conscious and convulsing so that they feel suffocated and can feel convulsive movements of the legs and body, but this seems to be the exception rather than the rule.

The position of the node is important here. If the loop does not compress both carotid arteries, the blood supply may continue. If the noose is in front (intentionally placed that way or slipped off when the victim fell), blood circulation and some breathing may be preserved, and then loss of consciousness and death may occur later.

Victims often lose bladder control. This, apparently, occurs in an unconscious state, or most often just before the loss of consciousness. Pathologists sometimes use this fact to determine if a victim is strangled in a standing position. A long trail of urine on a skirt or trousers indicates that the victim passed out in an upright position and was then lowered to the floor by the killer. A shorter track indicates that the victim was lying at that moment. The use of such forensic evidence again suggests that bladder control is lost immediately prior to loss of consciousness.

● Convulsive phase (usually after 45 seconds)

This phase begins approximately 45 seconds after hanging. The real agony begins when what we associate with the pain of suffocation becomes unbearable. A more scientific explanation is that convulsions begin when the brain's carbon monoxide detection centers in the blood become overloaded and the brain starts sending out erratic signals.

At this stage, powerful chest movements usually begin - the victim unsuccessfully tries to inhale air, and the speed of these movements increases rapidly. Witnesses to the hanging of a female spy during the First World War say that her agony resembled a fit of hysterical laughter - her shoulders and chest shook so quickly. This stage is quickly replaced by convulsive movements of the whole body. They can take various forms, and one form can change into another.

One of the forms is a strong tremor, the muscles alternately quickly spasmodically contract and relax, as if vibrating.

In one "unsuccessful" execution by hanging, the victim was out of sight after the hatch opened, but witnesses heard the buzz of the rope due to spasmodic body movements. These movements must be very strong and occur with great frequency in order for the rope to make an audible sound.

Clonic spasm is also possible, when the muscles simply convulsively contract. In this case, the legs can be tucked under the chin and remain in this position for some time.

A more spectacular form is the well-known "dance of the gallows", when the legs quickly twitch in different directions, sometimes synchronously, sometimes separately (in a number of executions of the 17th century, the musicians really played a jig while the hanged twitched on the ropes)

These movements are sometimes compared to riding a bicycle, but they seem to be more abrupt. Another form (often the last stage, if there have been several) consists in prolonged tension, to an absolutely incredible degree, of all the muscles of the body.

Since the muscles on the back of the body are much stronger than the front, the victim bends back (my acquaintance at the execution of sentences testifies that in some cases the heels of the hanged man almost reach the back of the head.

There is also a photograph of a man strangled while lying down; the body is not so strongly bent, but bent almost in a semicircle.

If the hands are tied in front, they usually rise to the middle of the chest during convulsions and fall only when the convulsions cease.

Often, but not always, hanged people lose bladder control. Apparently, this occurs during these convulsive movements, after loss of consciousness, perhaps as a result of contraction of the abdominal muscles, despite the fact that control over the bladder has already been lost.

My friend, who saw the hanged, explained that the legs of the victim were tied so that the feces would not flow down the legs and scatter to the sides during convulsive movements.

The convulsions continue until death, or almost until death. Accounts of executions by hanging note that the duration of convulsions varies widely - in some cases as little as three minutes, in others as much as twenty.

A professional English executioner, who watched the American volunteers hang Nazi war criminals, lamented that they did it ineptly, so that some of the hanged agonized for 14 minutes (he probably watched by the clock).

The reasons for such a wide range are unknown. Most likely, we are talking about the duration of convulsions, and not about the time of death. Sometimes a hanged man dies without convulsions at all, or the whole agony is reduced to a few movements, so perhaps a short agony does not mean a quick death at all.

Death without a fight is sometimes associated with "excitation of the vagus nerve" - ​​a nerve that runs in the neck and controls the contractions of the heart. This is difficult to understand, because if the loop stops the blood supply to the brain, then it makes a big difference whether the heart beats or not.

● Death

Irreversible changes in the brain begin in about 3-5 minutes, and if they continue, convulsions continue. In the next five minutes or so, these irreversible changes intensify.

The convulsions slow down and gradually stop. Usually the last convulsive movement is the heaving of the chest after the rest of the body is motionless. Sometimes the convulsions return to an already seemingly calm victim. In the 18th century, a hanged man, who was already considered dead, hit a man who, on duty, took off his clothes from his body.

The heart continues to beat for some time after all functions cease, until the acidity of the blood due to the increase in carbon dioxide causes it to stop.

OTHER PHENOMENA

Sometimes two phenomena are reported that cannot be verified.

● Death sounds

First, in the old accounts of executions by hanging, there are reports that the victim at the time of death (that is, when convulsions stop, the only sign by which witnesses can judge) emits something like a groan (in Kipling's "Hanging of Danny Deaver" soldier , a witness to the execution, hears a groan over his head; they explain to him that this is the soul of the victim flying away). It seems incredible, since the airways are securely closed, but such reports exist.

● Ejaculation in men

This phenomenon is noted often, almost in all cases. Ejaculation, like the often noted erection, can be caused by the same reactions. nervous system that cause convulsive movements. This happens at the end of the hanging.

There is a report by an American military policeman and a German warden who discovered a German prisoner who had hanged himself. The American watched with surprise as the German guard unzipped the fly of the hanged man and announced that it was too late to take him out of the noose: ejaculation had already occurred.

The main news of today was undoubtedly the execution of the Minister of Defense of the DPRK on charges of treason. The minister was shot at a military school from an anti-aircraft gun. In this regard, I would like to recall what types of the death penalty exist today in the world.

The death penalty- capital punishment, which today is prohibited in many countries of the world. And where it is allowed, it is used only for extremely serious crimes. Although there are countries (for example, China) where the death penalty is still used quite widely for much lesser offenses, such as: bribery, pimping, counterfeiting of banknotes, tax evasion, poaching and others.

In Russian and Soviet legal practice, to refer to the death penalty in different time used the euphemisms "the highest measure social protection"," capital punishment ", and in more later times“an exceptional measure of punishment”, since it was officially believed that the death penalty was not practiced in the USSR as a measure of punishment, but was used as an exception as a punishment for especially serious ordinary and state crimes.

The 6 most common in the world today various kinds death penalty.

A type of death penalty in which killing is achieved with the help of a firearm. On the this moment the most common of all the other methods.

Execution is carried out, as a rule, from guns or rifles, less often from other hand firearms. The number of shooters is usually from 4 to 12, but may vary according to the situation. Sometimes live ammunition is mixed with blanks to relieve conscience. Thus, none of the shooters knows whether it was he who fired the fatal shot.

According to the law Russian Federation firing squad is the only form of capital punishment. Although the death penalty has not been legally abolished in our country, only a moratorium on it is observed, caused by international obligations related to Russia's entry into PACE. There has been no real execution of the death sentence since 1996.

In Belarus, execution is also the only way execution of the death penalty.

Until 1987, shooting was the official method of execution in the GDR.

In the US, shooting is retained as a fallback method of execution in one state, Oklahoma; in addition, theoretically, 3 people sentenced to death in Utah before the legislative abolition of execution here can be shot, since this law does not have retroactive effect.

In China, where the largest number of death sentences are carried out today, a kneeling convict is shot in the back of the head with a machine gun. The authorities periodically arrange public demonstration executions of convicted government officials who take bribes.

Today, 18 countries use hanging as the only or one of several types of execution.

Type of death penalty, which consists in strangulation with a noose under the influence of the weight of the body.

For the first time, killing by hanging was used by the ancient Celts, bringing human sacrifices to the air god Esus. Execution by hanging is mentioned by Cervantes in the 17th century.

In Russia, hanging was practiced during the imperial period (for example, the execution of the Decembrists, "Stolypin ties", etc.) and by the warring parties during the years of the civil war.

Late hanging was practiced during a short period of wartime and the first postwar years against war criminals and Nazi collaborators. At the Nuremberg trials, 12 top leaders of the Third Reich were sentenced to death by hanging.

Today, 19 countries use hanging as the only or one of several types of execution.

A method of carrying out the death penalty, which consists in introducing a sentenced solution of poisons into the body.

Used in the late XX - early XXI century, the method was developed in 1977 by medical examiner Jay Chapman and approved by Stanley Deutsch. The sentenced person is fixed on a special chair, two tubes are inserted into his veins. First, the sentenced person is injected with the drug sodium thiopental - it is usually used (in a smaller dose) for anesthesia during operations. Then pavulon is injected through the tubes, which paralyzes the respiratory muscles, and potassium chloride, which leads to cardiac arrest. Texas and Oklahoma soon passed laws allowing this combination; the first application occurred in Texas in late 1982. Following them, similar laws were adopted in 34 more US states.

Death occurs between 5 and 18 minutes after the start of the execution. There is a special machine for administering drugs, but most states prefer to administer solutions manually, believing this to be more reliable.

Today, 4 countries use lethal injection as the only or one of several types of execution.

A device used to carry out death sentences in some US states.

The electric chair is a chair made of dielectric material with armrests and a high back, equipped with straps for rigid fixation of the sentenced. Hands are attached to the armrests, legs - in special clamps on the legs of the chair. The chair also comes with a helmet. Electrical contacts are connected to the ankle attachment points and to the helmet. Part technical support step-up transformer included. During the execution, an alternating current with a voltage of about 2700 V is supplied to the contacts, the current limiting system maintains a current through the body of the convict of the order of 5 A.

The electric chair was first used in the United States on August 6, 1890 at the Auburn Penitentiary in New York State. William Kemmler, the murderer, became the first person to be executed in this manner. Currently, it can be used in seven states - in Alabama, Florida, South Carolina, Kentucky, Tennessee and Virginia at the choice of the convict along with lethal injection, and in Kentucky and Tennessee only those who committed a crime before a certain date have the right to choose to use the electric chair.

Today, the electric chair as the only or one of several types of execution is used only in the United States.

The physical separation of the head from the body is carried out with the help of a special tool - a guillotine or chopping and cutting tools - an ax, a sword, a knife.

Decapitation certainly leads to brain death as a result of rapidly progressive ischemia. Brain death occurs within minutes of the separation of the head from the body. The stories that the head looked at the executioner, recognized its name and even tried to speak, are, from the point of view of neurophysiology, greatly exaggerated. The head loses consciousness 300 milliseconds after the clipping and almost all higher nervous activity is irreversibly stopped, including the ability to feel pain. Some reflexes and facial muscle spasms may continue for several minutes.

Today, 10 countries in the world have laws that allow beheading as the death penalty, however, reliable information about their application exists only in relation to Saudi Arabia. Most beheadings these days have been carried out in jurisdictions subject to the Islamic Sharia, by militant Islamists in hotspots, and by paramilitaries and drug cartels in Colombia and Mexico.

A type of death penalty familiar to the ancient Jews.

Currently, stoning is used in some Muslim countries. On January 1, 1989, stoning remained in the legislation of six countries of the world. A number of media outlets reported on the execution in Somalia on 27 October 2008 of a teenage girl by an Islamist court after she was allegedly raped by three men on her way from her hometown of Kismayo to visit relatives in Mogadishu. According to Amnesty International, the convict was only thirteen years old. At the same time, the BBC noted that the journalists present at the execution of the sentence estimated her age at 23, and the conviction of a 13-year-old girl for adultery would be contrary to Islamic law.

On January 16, 2015, it was reported about the stoning of a woman accused of adultery by militants of the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant in the Iraqi city of Mosul they captured.

The first mention of such a type of death penalty as hanging dates back to the era of antiquity. So, as a result of the Catiline conspiracy (60s BC), five rebels were immediately sentenced to death by hanging by the Roman Senate. Here is how the Roman historian Sallust describes their execution:

“There is in the prison, to the left and somewhat below the entrance, a room called the Tullian dungeon; it goes into the ground about twelve feet, and is fortified on every side with walls, and on top is covered with a stone vault; dirt, darkness and stench make a vile and terrible impression. It was there that Lentulus was lowered, and the executioners, following the order, strangled him, throwing a noose around his neck ... In the same way, Cethegus, Statilius, Gabinius, Ceparius were executed.

However, the era ancient rome has long passed, and hanging, as statistics show, despite all its seeming cruelty, is the most popular method of the death penalty at the present time. This type of execution provides for two possible types of death: death from a rupture of the spinal cord and death as a result of asphyxia. Consider how dying occurs in each of these cases.

Death from spinal injury

If the calculation was made correctly, then the fall will result in severe damage to the cervical spine, as well as the upper sections of the spinal cord and brain stem. Hanging with a long fall in the vast majority of cases is accompanied by instantaneous death of the victim due to decapitation.

Death from mechanical asphyxia

If during the fall of the body of the convict there was no displacement of the vertebrae sufficient to rupture the spinal cord, death occurs from slow strangulation (asphyxia) and can last from three to four to seven to eight minutes (for comparison, death from decapitation with a guillotine occurs usually seven to ten seconds after separation of the head from the body).

The process of dying by hanging can be divided into four stages:

• 1. Consciousness of the victim is preserved, deep and frequent breathing is noted with direct participation in breathing of the auxiliary muscles, cyanosis (cyanosis) of the skin quickly appears. Heart rate increases, blood pressure rises.
• 2. Consciousness is lost, convulsions appear, involuntary urination and defecation are possible, breathing becomes rare.
• 3. The terminal stage, which lasts from a few seconds to two or three minutes. Respiratory arrest and cardiac arrest occur.
• 4. An agonal state. Following the cessation of breathing, cardiac arrest occurs.

At the same time, it should be noted that in the second case, the process of dying itself lasts longer and is, unlike, more painful. Thus, setting the goal of humanizing the death penalty by hanging, we automatically set the goal of minimizing the number of situations where the convict dies precisely from strangulation.

Before you are three main ways to position the loop around the neck: a) - typical (mainly used in the death penalty), b) and c) - atypical.

Practice shows that if the knot is located on the side of the left ear (a typical way to locate the loop), then in the process of falling, the rope throws its head back. As a result, enough energy is generated to break the spine.

However, not only the danger of an incorrect location of the knot on the neck lies in wait for the convict. The most important and difficult problem in hanging is the choice of rope length. At the same time, its length depends more on the weight of the executed than on his height.

It must be remembered that the hemp rope used in the execution of this type of death penalty is far from the most durable material and tends to break at the most inopportune moment. Just such an incident happened, for example, on July 13 (25), 1826 on Senate Square. Here is how an eyewitness describes this event:

“When everything was ready, with the squeezing of the spring in the scaffold, the platform on which they stood on the benches fell, and at the same moment three fell off - Ryleev, Pestel and Kakhovsky fell down. Ryleyev's cap fell off, and a bloody eyebrow and blood behind his right ear, probably from a bruise, were visible. He sat crouching because he had fallen into the scaffold. I approached him, he said: "What a misfortune!" The governor-general, seeing that three had fallen, sent adjutant Bashutsky to take other ropes and hang them up, which was immediately done. I was so busy with Ryleyev that I did not pay attention to the others who had broken off the gallows and did not hear if they were saying anything. When the board was raised again, Pestel's rope was so long that he reached the platform with his socks, which should have prolonged his torment, and it was noticeable for some time that he was still alive.

In order to avoid such trouble during the execution (since it could spoil the image of the executioner, demonstrating his inability to handle the execution tool), in England, and then in other countries that practiced hanging, it was customary to stretch the rope on the eve of the execution in order to make it more elastic.

In order to calculate the optimal rope length, we analyzed the so-called "official drop table" - the UK Home Office reference book on the optimal height from which the body of a person on death row should fall when hanging. In order to then calculate the most suitable length of the rope, it was only necessary to add the "height of the fall" to the height of the bar or hook to which the rope was attached.

The resulting table allows you to calculate the optimal length of the rope for a convict with any weight. At the same time, it is worth remembering only that between the weight of the executed and the height of the fall there is inverse relationship(the greater the weight, the shorter the length of the rope).

The most popular types of execution in the Middle Ages were beheading and hanging. Moreover, they were applied to people of different classes. Beheading was used as a punishment for noble people, and the gallows was the lot of the rootless poor. So why did the aristocracies cut off their heads, and the common people were hanged?

Decapitation is the lot of kings and nobles

This type of death penalty has been used everywhere for many millennia. In medieval Europe, such punishment was considered "noble" or "honorable". They cut off the head mainly of aristocrats. When a representative of a noble family laid his head on the chopping block, he showed humility.

Decapitation with a sword, ax or ax was considered the least painful death. A quick death made it possible to avoid public agony, which was important for representatives of noble families. The crowd, thirsty for spectacles, should not have seen low death manifestations.

It was also believed that the aristocrats, being brave and selfless warriors, were prepared specifically for death from edged weapons.

Much in this matter depended on the skills of the executioner. Therefore, often the convict himself or his relatives paid a lot of money so that he did his job with one blow.

Decapitation leads to instant death, which means it saves from violent torment. The sentence was carried out quickly. The condemned lay his head on a log, which was to be no more than six inches thick. This greatly simplified the execution.

The aristocratic connotation of this type of punishment was also reflected in books devoted to the Middle Ages, thus perpetuating its selectivity. In the book “History of the Master” (author Kirill Sinelnikov) there is a quote: “... a noble execution is cutting off the head. This is not hanging for you, the execution of the mob. Decapitation is the lot of kings and nobles."

Hanging

If noblemen were sentenced to beheading, then commoner criminals fell on the gallows.

Hanging is the most common execution in the world. This type of punishment has been considered shameful since ancient times. And there are several explanations for this. Firstly, it was believed that when hanging, the soul cannot leave the body, as if remaining hostage to it. Such dead people were called "mortgages".

Secondly, dying on the gallows was excruciating and painful. Death does not come instantly, a person experiences physical suffering and remains conscious for several seconds, perfectly aware of the approach of the end. All his torments and manifestations of agony are watched by hundreds of onlookers. In 90% of cases, at the moment of strangulation, all the muscles of the body relax, which leads to complete emptying of the intestines and bladder.

In many nations, hanging was considered an unclean death. No one wanted his body to hang out in front of everyone after the execution. Reproach by exposure - obligatory part this type of punishment. Many believed that such a death was the worst thing that could happen, and it was reserved only for traitors. People remembered Judas, who hanged himself on an aspen.

A person sentenced to the gallows had to have three ropes: the first two, the thickness of the little finger (tortuzas), were equipped with a loop and were intended for direct strangulation. The third was called a "token" or "throw" - it served to drop the condemned to the gallows. The execution was completed by the executioner, holding on to the crossbar of the gallows, he beat the sentenced man in the stomach with his knee.

Exceptions to the rules

Despite a clear distinction according to belonging to a particular class, there were exceptions to the established rules. For example, if a nobleman raped a girl who was entrusted to him for guardianship, then he was deprived of his nobility and all the privileges associated with the title. If during the detention he resisted, then the gallows awaited him.

Among the military, deserters and traitors were sentenced to hanging. For the officers, such a death was so humiliating that they often committed suicide without waiting for the execution of the punishment imposed by the court.

The exception was cases of high treason, in which the nobleman was deprived of all privileges and could be executed as a commoner.

Hello dear!
I read another booklet here, and decided - why not talk about such an important topic as “the highest measure of social protection”, as entertainers with communist convictions once called it? The topic is complex, difficult, but interesting. I propose to skip the moral aspects (it is possible / impossible, and who are the judges, etc., etc.) and talk exclusively about the mechanism for the deprivation of life by the state of its citizens, as a measure of the highest possible punishment.
At the moment, more than 80 countries of the world have either completely abolished the death penalty or joined the moratorium (including the Russian Federation). But the phenomenon itself remains the same. And most likely it always will be. For....
If you recall a little history, then according to the same Code of 1649, all death penalties were divided into ordinary (simple) and qualified. If you look even further, into the 15th century, then the number of these punishments could be found in the dozen 2, and some of them are very, very cruel...
But whatever it was, the world is moving forward, and paradoxically, it is becoming kinder and more tolerant. It is clear that perhaps now it is not so visible, but, I repeat, when compared with previous centuries— the difference is obvious.
This is evident, including the highest measure of punishment. There are fewer death penalties and they are more humane, or something ...
Therefore, I propose to talk about some of them. Let's start with the existing ones, and if there is interest, we will recall those that were earlier.
So....

Classics of the genre.

Let's start with the most common execution in the world - hanging.
This type of execution is considered, for some reason, the most shameful. Apparently, this is connected with the legend that after his betrayal, Judas hanged himself on an aspen. If a military man is executed on the gallows, he considers this a great insult. The same Hermann Goering decided not to wait for the rope and was able to kill himself.
The modern technology of this punishment is as follows: " the convict is hung on a rope around his neck; death occurs as a result of the pressure of the rope on the body under the influence of gravity. Loss of consciousness and death occur as a result of damage to the spinal cord or (if this is not enough to cause death) due to asphyxia from compression of the trachea".

G. Goering at the Nuremberg trials.

And despite the apparent simplicity - it's not all too simple.
It is clear that a more humane death, speaking about the qualifications of the executioner, was death from damage to the spinal cord and vertebrae. After a noose was put on the convict's neck, a hatch opens under his feet. At the same time, the length of the rope (and, accordingly, the distance of the fall) is selected taking into account the height and weight of the convict - in order to achieve a rupture of the spinal cord. Otherwise, either a long and painful agony from suffocation, or even a detachment of the head.
well and the worst option is an option when the rope does not withstand the weight of the body and breaks. It turns out people are executed twice ... The most famous example of such an incident was the execution of the Decembrists in 1826. Let's give the floor to an eyewitness of those events: “ When everything was ready, with the squeezing of the spring in the scaffold, the platform on which they stood on the benches fell, and at the same moment three fell off - Ryleev, Pestel and Kakhovskiy fell down. Ryleyev's cap fell off, and a bloody eyebrow and blood behind his right ear, probably from a bruise, were visible. He sat crouching because he had fallen into the scaffold. I approached him, he said: “What a misfortune!” The governor-general, seeing that three had fallen, sent adjutant Bashutsky to take other ropes and hang them up, which was immediately done. I was so busy with Ryleyev that I did not pay attention to the others who had broken off the gallows and did not hear if they were saying anything. When the board was raised again, Pestel's rope was so long that he reached the platform with his socks, which should have prolonged his torment, and it was noticeable for some time that he was still alive».

Decembrists before execution

Therefore, I repeat, there can be no trifles here. The material of the rope and its proper fastening and, of course, the length are also important. There are special length tolerance tables depending on height and weight, and the loop itself is made using a special knot called a hanging or Lynch knot. The ideal knot is one that is wound 13 turns. The form of the gallows is T-shaped or in the form of the Russian letter G, went from Ancient Rome. Why it is so, now I find it difficult to say - I will still investigate. But tradition is tradition... However, each country had its own peculiarities. In Europe, for example, robbers were hung from trees along the roads. And in Russia, for some reason, it was customary to build gallows for rioters and rebels on rafts and let such rafts hang downstream.

Old version

Rope (which in Russia used to be often called "Stolypin's tie") is used by most executors today, although earlier in Asia there could be variations like string from a piano or barbed wire.
All the nuances before the execution must be foreseen by the executioner. And it depends only on him whether the victim will suffer or die relatively easily.
Sergeant american army John Wood, who acted as an executioner for the criminals convicted at the Nuremberg Tribunal, knew his job well and they all died quickly. But the Japanese who hung Richard Sorge were amateurs. Even after he was removed from the gallows, his heart was beating for 8 minutes.

Nuremberg executioner John Wood

Among the most famous people, executed in this way relatively recently, one can remember the former Prime Minister of Pakistan Zulfikar Ali Bhutto (father of Benazir Bhutto), Saddam Hussein and his younger brother Barzan Ibrahim Hassan al-Tikriti, who was beheaded with a rope.

PER. Bhutto

Currently, 18 countries use the death penalty by hanging (North Korea, South Korea, Singapore, Japan, Malaysia, India, Pakistan, Afghanistan, Iran, Iraq, Syria, Lebanon, Egypt, Somalia, Nigeria, North Sudan, South Sudan and Botswana)
As well as 2 US states - Washington and New Hampshire. Let me remind you that in the United States the death penalty is legal in 32 states.
To be continued...