# Death Penalty Question **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [October 4, 2001, 6:05pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/death-penalty-question/85413 "2001-10-04T18:05:28Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![tramp](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/4491bb/32.png) [@tramp](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/tramp)\ **Post date:** [October 4, 2001, 6:05pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/death-penalty-question/85413/1 "2001-10-04T18:05:28Z")
Has anyone ever survived the death penalty? I don’t mean like getting off through appeals or whatnot but actually having the lethal punishment administered and surviving. I seem to recall someone who was sentanced to death by hanging but actually lived and was then set free. ---
**Author:** ![geepee](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/ebca7d/32.png) [@geepee](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/geepee)\ **Post date:** [October 4, 2001, 6:17pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/death-penalty-question/85413/2 "2001-10-04T18:17:32Z")
not sure about the west but in Islamic law i do know when being sentenced to death by stoning the man is buried up to his neck , and women up to thier arm pits , if during the stoning the condemned person can pull themselves free then they are free to go ---
**Author:** ![Milton\_De\_La\_Warre](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/e480ec/32.png) [@Milton\_De\_La\_Warre](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Milton_De_La_Warre)\ **Post date:** [October 4, 2001, 7:07pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/death-penalty-question/85413/3 "2001-10-04T19:07:26Z")
Surviving death by hanging is not too uncommon, if you go by the Newgate Calendar (now available somewhere on line). Captian Kidd was hanged and then hanged again directly --English law of the time didn’t forbid this. However, a woman in Scotland was hanged for doing away with a newborn illegitimate baby, and revived when the funeral procession stopped for a drink at a public house. Because the Scottish interpretation of the law of the time said that to hang her again would be the equivalent of double jeapordy, she was set free and lived quite some years afterwards. ---
**Author:** ![Milton\_De\_La\_Warre](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/e480ec/32.png) [@Milton\_De\_La\_Warre](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Milton_De_La_Warre)\ **Post date:** [October 4, 2001, 7:12pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/death-penalty-question/85413/4 "2001-10-04T19:12:28Z")
Surviving death by hanging is not too uncommon, if you go by the Newgate Calendar (now available somewhere on line). Captian Kidd was hanged and then hanged again directly when the rope broke–English law of the time didn’t forbid this, the concept being that the sentence must be completely carried out. However, a woman in Scotland was hanged for doing away with a newborn illegitimate baby, and revived when the funeral procession stopped for a drink at a public house. Because the Scottish interpretation of the law of the time said that to hang her again would be the equivalent of double jeapordy, she was set free and lived quite some years afterwards. All such cases revolve around the hanging technology of the time, which was basically choking by suspension from the neck. More modern hangings break the neck (or try to). Death in such cases is quite instant. ---
**Author:** ![geepee](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/ebca7d/32.png) [@geepee](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/geepee)\ **Post date:** [October 4, 2001, 7:24pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/death-penalty-question/85413/5 "2001-10-04T19:24:38Z")
no not really , hanging is instant IF you are lucky , there have been recored cases somewhere that your heart can stay beating for up to 20 minutes after the breakage , and though your neck is broken the nerves are still connected above the neck and you can feel the pain from : #1 the break #2 the rope slowly strangling you you could also be luckyer than the poor sods who stay concious for 20 or so minutes as in feel the break but the weight of your body compress the arteries in your neck causing a blackout within 8-20 seconds , not exactly instant but those seconds would feel an awful long time , better not commit treason then (its the only UK crime that you can be Hanged for these days) ---
**Author:** ![bonzer](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/45deac/32.png) [@bonzer](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/bonzer)\ **Post date:** [October 4, 2001, 9:44pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/death-penalty-question/85413/6 "2001-10-04T21:44:28Z")
There is an occasionally cited case of an Australian POW surviving a Japanese execution involving beheading with a Samuri sword during WWII. As quoted in _Codename Downfall_ by Thomas Allen and Norman Polmar (Headline, 1995): “I was told to sit down with my knees, legs and feet projecting into the grave. My hands were tied behind my back. A small towel was tied over my eyes … My shirt was unbuttoned and pulled back over my back, exposing the lower part of my neck. My head was bent forward, and after a few seconds I felt a heavy, dull blow sensation on the back of my neck.” With admirable presence of mind, he pretended to be dead and was duly buried. “He was able to claw his way out, was recaptured and allowed to live, apparently as a curiosity.” Allen and Polmar cite Arnold C. Brackman _The Other Nuremberg_ as their source. One might regard this as a borderline case, since there are similar examples where people have survived by pretending to be dead during mass killings. This however appears to have been intended as an individual execution. And to follow-up on **JCHeckler** ’s reference to Newgate, Ackroyd’s _London, The Biography_ (Chatto & Windus, 2000) quotes one John Haynes’ memories of his hanging as: “The last thing I recollect was going up Holborn Hill in a cart. I thought than that I was in a beautiful green field; and that is all I remember till I found myself in your honour’s dissecting room.” ---
**Author:** ![Stupendous\_man](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/a8b319/32.png) [@Stupendous\_man](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Stupendous_man)\ **Post date:** [October 4, 2001, 10:11pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/death-penalty-question/85413/7 "2001-10-04T22:11:22Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by geepee \* > \*\*not sure about the west but in Islamic law i do know when being sentenced to death by stoning the man is buried up to his neck , and women up to thier arm pits , if during the stoning the condemned person can pull themselves free then they are free to go \*\* DO you have a source for that? I read that men were not buried at all, and if they could simply escape the stoning they were free to go, while women are buried chest deep (allegedly for decency) and then are stoned. I can’t see an Islamic man being buried deeper than a woman… Am I wrong or right here? ---
**Author:** ![Northern\_Piper](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/northern_piper/32/5304_2.png) [@Northern\_Piper](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Northern_Piper)\ **Post date:** [October 5, 2001, 3:11am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/death-penalty-question/85413/8 "2001-10-05T03:11:20Z")
> [@](#): > > _originally posted by geepee_ > > but those seconds would feel an awful long time , better not commit treason then (its the only UK crime that you can be Hanged for these days) The U.K. does not have the death penalty at all - it’s completely abolitionist, according to [this site:](http://host001.stm.it/colosseo/uk/rapporto.html) > [@](#): > > UNITED KINGDOM - _abolitionist_ > > The provisions of the Crime and Disorder Act 1998 abolished the death penalty for the civilian crimes for which it remained on the statute books, and the Human Rights Act 1998 replaced the death penalty with a life sentence in Armed Forces legislation. And see [section 36](http://www.bailii.org/uk/legis/num_act/cada1998164/s36.html) of the _Crime and Disorder Act 1998_ for the provisions abolishing the death penalty for treason in the U.K. [And by the way, we’ve had this discussion before, **geepee** , in [this thread.](http://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/showthread.php?threadid=82904) Since we strive to reduce ignorance on these boards, perhaps you could take the time to read replies to your comments, rather than repeating incorrect statements? Frankly, your repeated erroneous statements about the death penalty in the U.K. leads me to doubt anything you say on the topic, including your speculations about Islamic execution practices in this thread.] ---
**Author:** ![Little\_Nemo](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/little_nemo/32/3120_2.png) [@Little\_Nemo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Little_Nemo)\ **Post date:** [October 5, 2001, 5:02am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/death-penalty-question/85413/9 "2001-10-05T05:02:53Z")
> [@](#): > > the Human Rights Act 1998 replaced the death penalty with a life sentence in Armed Forces legislation. The poor bastard is forced to spend the rest of his life doing nothing but reading Army regulations? That’s inhuman. ---
**Author:** ![Northern\_Piper](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/northern_piper/32/5304_2.png) [@Northern\_Piper](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Northern_Piper)\ **Post date:** [October 5, 2001, 1:41pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/death-penalty-question/85413/10 "2001-10-05T13:41:36Z")
[Monty Python voice] Roight, then, it’s off to the law library with yer - read those Army regs! And just consider yerself lucky I didn’t give yer a concurrent sentence of Navy regs!! [/Monty Python voice] ---
**Author:** ![psychonaut](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/psychonaut/32/4655_2.png) [@psychonaut](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/psychonaut)\ **Post date:** [October 5, 2001, 2:22pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/death-penalty-question/85413/11 "2001-10-05T14:22:38Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by Northern Piper \* > **The U.K. does not have the death penalty at all - it’s completely abolitionist, according to [this site:](http://host001.stm.it/colosseo/uk/rapporto.html)** I don’t trust that site. It’s not an official government publication and it doesn’t list all its sources. My copy of the Criminal Code of Canada (from 1994) indicates that treason (including assaults on the reigning monarch) are punishable by death. This is not mentioned on the site, which calls Canada abolitionist. Now, it could be that the courts have ruled the punishment for the treason laws to be unconstitutional and thus unenforceable, or the death penalty could have been repealed since 1994, but one would think that the creators of the site would have had the presence of mind to make note of this. I find it extremely suspect that Canada would have the death penalty for assaulting the Queen, while the UK would not. If anything, one would think it the other way around. ---
**Author:** ![sirjamesp](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/ecccb3/32.png) [@sirjamesp](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/sirjamesp)\ **Post date:** [October 5, 2001, 2:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/death-penalty-question/85413/12 "2001-10-05T14:51:08Z")
Although the dealth penalty was abolished in the 70’s in the UK ('65 in Great Britain, extended to include Northern Ireland in '73), it remained on the books for three crimes: treason, piracy, and burning down one of HM’s dockyards. However, the death penalty as a punishment was abolished by Parliament in 1998 (“except in war or immediate threat of war”). This get out was removed in `99 when the goverment signed up to the Sixth Protocol of the European Convention on Human Rights, which bans capital punishment. I am sure there would be ways round it though, if anyone tried to usurp the Queen - REMEMBER THIS, MR. BLAIR! ---
**Author:** ![geepee](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/ebca7d/32.png) [@geepee](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/geepee)\ **Post date:** [October 5, 2001, 3:05pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/death-penalty-question/85413/13 "2001-10-05T15:05:11Z")
**And by the way, we’ve had this discussion before, geepee, in this thread. Since we strive to reduce ignorance on these boards, perhaps you could take the time to read replies to your comments, rather than repeating incorrect statements? Frankly, your repeated erroneous statements about the death penalty in the U.K. leads me to doubt anything you say on the topic, including your speculations about Islamic execution practices in this thread** [http://www.netlondon.com/news/1999-4/7624B7E3E8E445D3802.html](http://www.netlondon.com/news/1999-4/7624B7E3E8E445D3802.html) British death penalty for treason was removed in 1999 , since i didn’t hear about it I thought it was still inforce and 1999 wasn’t that long ago , I went to school in the late 80s and remember in history the lecturer teaching us and said hanging is for treason these days , i just missed the repeal of it [http://www.iran-e-azad.org/stoning/women.html](http://www.iran-e-azad.org/stoning/women.html) [http://www.geocities.com/stoning2001/english/sohaila.htm](http://www.geocities.com/stoning2001/english/sohaila.htm) for the stoning issue , since Islam is a radation type of evolution (ie separate arms and branches of it breaking off then it could be true in some places and not in others) as there are different sects of christianity and other movements . ---
**Author:** ![owlstretchingtime](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/o/958977/32.png) [@owlstretchingtime](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/owlstretchingtime)\ **Post date:** [October 5, 2001, 3:27pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/death-penalty-question/85413/14 "2001-10-05T15:27:41Z")
This Englishman is famous as “the man they couldn’t hang”. And he gave Traffic the title of an album. Which is nice. [http://www.otterview.co.uk/murderresearch/babbacombe.htm](http://www.otterview.co.uk/murderresearch/babbacombe.htm) ---
**Author:** ![Northern\_Piper](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/northern_piper/32/5304_2.png) [@Northern\_Piper](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Northern_Piper)\ **Post date:** [October 6, 2001, 3:23pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/death-penalty-question/85413/15 "2001-10-06T15:23:41Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by psychonaut \* > > My copy of the Criminal Code of Canada (from 1994) indicates that treason (including assaults on the reigning monarch) are punishable by death. This is not mentioned on the site, which calls Canada abolitionist. Now, it could be that the courts have ruled the punishment for the treason laws to be unconstitutional and thus unenforceable, or the death penalty could have been repealed since 1994, but one would think that the creators of the site would have had the presence of mind to make note of this. I’m puzzled by your reference to the _Criminal Code,_ **psychonaut**. It sounds like the copy you have is out-of-date. Here’s the provision of the _Criminal Code_ setting out the punishment for treason, from the [Federal Justice Department website](http://laws.justice.gc.ca/en/C-46/35679.html): > [@](#): > > **47.** (1) Every one who commits high treason is guilty of an indictable offence and shall be sentenced to imprisonment for life. > > (2) Every one who commits treason is guilty of an indictable offence and liable > > (a) to be sentenced to imprisonment for life if he is guilty of an offence under paragraph 46(2)(a), © or (d); > > (b) to be sentenced to imprisonment for life if he is guilty of an offence under paragraph 46(2)(b) or (e) committed while a state of war exists between Canada and another country; or > > © to be sentenced to imprisonment for a term not exceeding fourteen years if he is guilty of an offence under paragraph 46(2)(b) or (e) committed while no state of war exists between Canada and another country. > > [subsections (3) and (4) omitted as irrelevant] > > **R.S., c. C-34, s. 47; 1974-75-76, c. 105, s. 2.** The legislative history is given by the citation that I’ve bolded: this provision was enacted as section 47, chapter C-34, of the Revised Statutes of Canada, 1970, and then was amended by an Act passed in the Parliamentary session running from 1974-75-76. That statute, c. 105, was the statute abolishing the death penalty for most offences. The treason provision hasn’t been amended since that time, simply carried forward into the Revised Statutes of Canada, 1985. So, I don’t understand how a copy of the _Criminal Code_published in 1994 would show the death penalty for treason - it would be out-of-date by 18 years. Are you sure you’re not thinking of the penalty for treasonous acts committed by members of the Armed Forces? Those are covered by the [National Defence Act](http://laws.justice.gc.ca/en/N-5/73130.html), ss. 73-76. Those offences did carry a death penalty until 1998, when Parliament substituted life imprisonment. See: [An Act to amend the National Defence Act and to make consequential amendments to other Acts, S.C. 1998, c. 35](http://laws.justice.gc.ca/en/1998/35/8326.html#rid-8333), s. 24. ---
**Author:** ![AWB](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/bb73d2/32.png) [@AWB](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/AWB)\ **Post date:** [October 6, 2001, 6:46pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/death-penalty-question/85413/16 "2001-10-06T18:46:03Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by Northern Piper \* > \*\*[Monty Python voice] > > Roight, then, it’s off to the law library with yer - read those Army regs! And just consider yerself lucky I didn’t give yer a concurrent sentence of Navy regs!! > > [/Monty Python voice] \*\* And maybe a few years in a comfy chair for good measure. :D:D ---
**Author:** ![RyanD004](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/848f3c/32.png) [@RyanD004](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/RyanD004)\ **Post date:** [October 6, 2001, 7:20pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/death-penalty-question/85413/17 "2001-10-06T19:20:17Z")
I’m surprised no one has mentioned anything like it, but i remember hearing a story of a man sentenced to death in the electric chair,i think it was. I believe they somehow screwed up,and the guy got shocked,but not killed. Afterwards they let him live,though still in prison. Maybe this was fictional, I can’t remember. Has anyoen else heard this? ---
**Author:** ![geepee](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/ebca7d/32.png) [@geepee](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/geepee)\ **Post date:** [October 6, 2001, 8:08pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/death-penalty-question/85413/18 "2001-10-06T20:08:23Z")
hmm since you meantion federal and we are talking UK we’re on the same thing but reading from different books ---
**Author:** ![TomH](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/90db22/32.png) [@TomH](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/TomH)\ **Post date:** [October 7, 2001, 4:20pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/death-penalty-question/85413/19 "2001-10-07T16:20:44Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by psychonaut \* > I don’t trust that site. It’s not an official government publication and it doesn’t list all its sources. You may be right about Canada, but Northern Piper is pretty absolutely right about the UK. The death penalty was finally abolished for all offences by the Human Rights Act 1998, which incorporated the provisions of the European Convention on Human Rights into UK law. Previously, Convention rights could only be enforced by the European Court of Human Rights in Strasbourg and appealing to that court was a lengthy and costly process. Here is a [link to the full text of the Act](http://www.uk-legislation.hmso.gov.uk/acts/acts1998/19980042.htm), on the website of The Stationery Office (the UK Government’s official publisher). See Part III of Schedule 1 to the Act, which contains the death penalty provision from the Sixth Protocol to the Convention. > [@](#): > > I find it extremely suspect that Canada would have the death penalty for assaulting the Queen, while the UK would not. Canada is not a singnatory of the European Convention on Human Rights ---
**Author:** ![yabob](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/yabob/32/2821_2.png) [@yabob](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/yabob)\ **Post date:** [October 7, 2001, 4:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/death-penalty-question/85413/20 "2001-10-07T16:45:58Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by RyanD004 \* > \*\*I’m surprised no one has mentioned anything like it, but i remember hearing a story of a man sentenced to death in the electric chair,i think it was. I believe they somehow screwed up,and the guy got shocked,but not killed. Afterwards they let him live,though still in prison. Maybe this was fictional, I can’t remember. Has anyoen else heard this? \*\* The electric chair is not a particularly reliable method of execution, and many convicts have been zapped multiple times before dying. In some cases, they’ve given them medical treatments for the botched attempt before having another go at electrocuting them. There may be an isolated case like you mentioned, but the general consensus seems to be that once the State has been given a go ahead to execute you, they may try again if it doesn’t work the first time. From some AFU archive stuff by Ted Frank at [http://www.urbanlegends.com/death/electric.chair/electric\_chair\_history.html](http://www.urbanlegends.com/death/electric.chair/electric_chair_history.html) : > [@](#): > > Arthur Miller and Jeffrey Bowman’s “Death by Installments” (the title comes from the nickname for the common need for recurrent shocks) reports on the Willie Francis case. Francis, who was almost certainly innocent of the Louisiana murder he was convicted of by an all-white jury, had the dubious fortune of sitting on an electric chair where the cables had been improperly connected by drunk workmen. Less than the full current passed through his body, and despite multiple shocks being administered, he survived. The Supreme Court ruled 5-4 that a second attempt to electrocute him would not be cruel and unusual punishment, 329 U.S. 459 (1947), and the Louisiana governor refused to commute the sentence. Francis was executed. [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/death-penalty-question/85413.md?page=2)