Hanging
Introduction to Hanging
Hanging, method of capital punishment by suspending the condemned person by the neck, usually with a noosed rope or cord, from a frame with a crosspiece commonly known as a gallows. Hanging is the official means of execution in several countries.
Death through hanging may result from compression of the windpipe, obstruction of blood flow, and rupture of nerve structures in the neck; all may be the causes of death, especially when death is not instantaneous. Death comes instantly in a hanging in which the spinal cord is damaged or severed through the fracture or dislocation of the first three cervical vertebrae.
Originally, hanging was not a method of capital punishment, but of inflicting indignity on the dead body of a criminal. The practice of hanging an already executed murderer in chains on a gibbet, a simple gallows consisting of one upright post with a crosspiece at the top, continued in Britain well into the 19th century. During the days of the Roman Empire, however, Germanic tribes used hanging as a method of execution, and from them the measure was adopted by the Anglo-Saxon peoples. Hanging was first adopted in England in 1214, when a nobleman’s son was hanged for piracy. In time, hanging displaced more barbarous methods of execution.” (1)
Resources
Notes and References
- Information about Hanging in the Encarta Online Encyclopedia
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