Within the UK we no longer have the death penalty, with the last execution happening in 1964, and true abolishment occurring five years later. So, why should we care? It’s happening in many countries across the world, but it’s not happening here, so… out of sight out of mind huh?
This is the wrong kind of thought to have on the matter, it’s not happening here but it is happening to our global neighbours. Most executions recently occurring take place within China, Iran, Saudi Arabia, Viet Nam and Iraq, and while China is believed to be carrying out the most executions per year worldwide the true extent of its use is unknown as they classify this figure.
Even our fellow English-speaking country, America, is still carrying-out this barbaric practice!
While the most common method is currently the lethal injection, four additional methods are still used to a lesser extent, with the method varying depending on both country and state. These four additional methods are electrocution, firing squad, lethal gas and hanging.
The lethal injection has somehow adopted this myth of being a humane way to carry out an execution, having been created for that sole purpose, however this is sadly an untrue classification. It is a chemical cocktail, featuring three ingredients – sodium thiopental, vecuronium bromide and potassium chloride. The sodium thiopental is to act as an anesthetic, as the flowing injections are not a pain free process. The use of vecuronium bromide is to aid the aesthetic, causing the individual to become paralysed, blocking signals between the muscles and nerves. The final step is potassium chloride, this stops the heart as the potassium interferes with electrical impulses of the heart muscle, resulting in cardiac arrest. This isn’t a full proof process, Angel Diaz actually suffered from internal chemical burns – ouch! – when this veins were missed and soft tissue was hit, and in fact, sometimes this first attempt doesn’t result in fatality, such as Romell Broom who survived this process the first time due to improper preparation.
The typical means of death via electrocution is the electric chair. In this process the individual is strapped into the wooden chair, with electrodes being placed upon his body on both his legs and head. Once they are adequately restrained and prepped, electricity volts are then sent throughout the body via the electrodes. It is believed that the first voltage causes the individual to fall unconscious while the second is believed to be fatal, causing damage to the vital organs and then death. This is undoubtably a painful process, with many witnesses of this reporting the sounds of sizzling flesh, fire occurring in the locations the electrodes have been placed and of course, the individual jostling and jerking due to the excruciating pain. The abhorrent process is often appealing to some that believe death is not punishment enough, extreme pain is needed.
Firing squad is of course an obvious process. The individual/s being executed are lined up; their face covered with cloth – perhaps an additional level of shame for those considered deserving of death. They are typically tied to a chair with straps restraining this waist and head, sandbags surround the chair to absorb the blood – easy clean up, how convenient! They are hidden by a oval shaped canvas, with multiple slots. Standing 20 feet away are a minimum of five shooters, and as the process begins, they all place their rifles in the canvas slots, and repeatedly fire. The use of multiple gun men and being unable to see the individual being shot means that none of them are aware of who is responsible for the fatal shot. This is a method common to the military!
The method of lethal gas is essentially a gas chamber, ya know? That horrific and monstrous thing that occurred in concentration camps to innocent people? Men, women and children… The individual is once again strapped to a chair within an airtight chamber, placed beneath said chair is pails of sulfuric acid. There will be a long stethoscope affixed to the inmate, so a doctor outside is able to announce death. The room is emptied and sealed, the executioner will then pull a lever releasing crystals of sodium cyanide into the pail. The mixture of sulfuric acid and sodium cyanide causes a chemical reaction, resulting in the release of hydrogen cyanide. This is not a quick process, it has been reported that it causes extreme pain and struggle, often the eyes pop, skin turns purple and the individual begins to drool. The ultimate cause of the death is hypoxia, starving the brain of oxygen.
Finally, hanging, possibly the seemingly most archaic method. Sometimes the inmate is weighed the day prior and the hanging is practiced with an equal weight bag of sand, this helps them determine the length of the drop that is needed to a ‘quick death’. Hanging is a procedure that needs to be relatively precise, the rope too short – strangulation could take a very long time, rope too long – potential decapitation (a rather unpleasant mess I wouldn’t like to clean!). The actual noose is lubricated with a wax or soapy substance to ensure an easy sliding motion! The individual’s hands and legs are secured, they are blind-folded, and the noose is placed around the neck, the knot behind the left ear – this is due to that position being the most likely to break your neck, nice and quick! A trap door beneath the individual is opened and they fall threw, the weight causing dislocation of the neck however it is rare that death occurs quickly, often leaving them hanging for minutes, slowly asphyxiating. The pleasant results are a protruding tongue, popped eyes, violent jostling and defecation.
Don’t these methods seem humane? The thought of putting an individual through this is cruel, and in fact some of those that endure it have strong evidence later identified, indicating their innocence. Of-course these are rarely investigated, nothing quite so damaging to the legal system as a wrongful conviction resulting in death.
Some recent Americans executed with strong evidence of them being innocent? Larry Swearingen (ex. 2019), Carlton Michael Gary (ex. 2018), Richard Masterson (ex. 2016), Lester Bower (ex. 2015) and many more.
Additional information can be found; https://deathpenaltyinfo.org/executions/methods-of-execution/description-of-each-method
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