# We're still HANGING people?!? **URL:** \ **Category:** Miscellaneous and Personal Stuff I Must Share\ **Created:** [February 8, 2006, 8:30pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/were-still-hanging-people/343587 "2006-02-08T20:30:57Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![DooWahDiddy](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/e9bcb4/32.png) [@DooWahDiddy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DooWahDiddy)\ **Post date:** [February 8, 2006, 8:30pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/were-still-hanging-people/343587/1 "2006-02-08T20:30:57Z")
According to [this CNN article,](http://www.cnn.com/2006/LAW/02/08/fat.inmate.ap/index.html) Mitchell Rupe couldn’t be hanged for a double murder because he was too heavy. Okay, fine, he just died anyway… but what struck me was that _hanging_ him was even an option anymore! The crime was committed in 1981, but it says “In 1994, a federal judge upheld his conviction but agreed with Rupe’s contention that at 400 pounds, he was too heavy to hang because of the risk of decapitation. At the time, Washington’s only manner of execution was hanging. The main method now is lethal injection.” So at least as late as 1994 we were still hanging people in the U.S.? Are any other states still practicing this? I’m not looking for a debate about capital punishment, I just always thought hanging was a Wild West, 1800’s, so passe type of criminal punishment. ---
**Author:** ![scout1222](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/34f0e0/32.png) [@scout1222](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/scout1222)\ **Post date:** [February 8, 2006, 8:33pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/were-still-hanging-people/343587/2 "2006-02-08T20:33:47Z")
That is surprising. I guess I figured everybody had moved to gas chamber or lethal injection nowadays. More “modern”. ---
**Author:** ![Neurotik](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/91b2a8/32.png) [@Neurotik](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Neurotik)\ **Post date:** [February 8, 2006, 8:38pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/were-still-hanging-people/343587/3 "2006-02-08T20:38:40Z")
I still say use the guillotine. Guaranteed quicker and less stressful than anything else. ---
**Author:** ![Shagnasty](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/9dc877/32.png) [@Shagnasty](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Shagnasty)\ **Post date:** [February 8, 2006, 8:38pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/were-still-hanging-people/343587/4 "2006-02-08T20:38:51Z")
You can still be theoretically executed by any of the following methods in the U.S. Firing Squad Hanging Lethal Injection Gas Chamber Electrocution In practice, most states rely on lethal injection as their primary method and it is unlikely that anyone would get the other methods. However, I believe it was Utah that used a firing squad in the 1990’s so it isn’t unheard of. [http://www.deathpenaltyinfo.org/article.php?scid=8&did=245#authorized](http://www.deathpenaltyinfo.org/article.php?scid=8&did=245#authorized) ---
**Author:** ![The\_Weird\_One](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/7bcc69/32.png) [@The\_Weird\_One](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/The_Weird_One)\ **Post date:** [February 8, 2006, 8:40pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/were-still-hanging-people/343587/5 "2006-02-08T20:40:25Z")
Hanging, nuthin.’ If I ever kill somebody, I’m going to do it in Utah, just so’s I can die by [firing squad.](http://www.deathpenaltyinfo.org/article.php?scid=8&did=479#firing) I remember the hullabaloo 10 years ago when the most recent firing squad execution took place. I thought they were going to get rid of it afterwards, but apparently they never did. ---
**Author:** ![stpauler](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/9d8465/32.png) [@stpauler](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/stpauler)\ **Post date:** [February 8, 2006, 8:47pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/were-still-hanging-people/343587/6 "2006-02-08T20:47:01Z")
> [@DooWahDiddy](#): > > "In 1994, a federal judge upheld his conviction but agreed with Rupe’s contention that at 400 pounds, he was too heavy to hang because of the **risk of decapitation.** Now, I’m a member of Amnesty International and am completely against the death penalty, but that just seems rather silly. ---
**Author:** ![ivylass](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/i/9de053/32.png) [@ivylass](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ivylass)\ **Post date:** [February 8, 2006, 8:49pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/were-still-hanging-people/343587/7 "2006-02-08T20:49:36Z")
Okay, so you don’t want to execute someone by hanging because he might be decapitated? Isn’t he just as dead either way? I would imagine since he was sentenced to hang, they cannot go back and re-sentence him to some other form of execution. IANAL, but that would be my guess. ---
**Author:** ![Sal\_Ammoniac](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/8dc957/32.png) [@Sal\_Ammoniac](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sal_Ammoniac)\ **Post date:** [February 8, 2006, 8:53pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/were-still-hanging-people/343587/8 "2006-02-08T20:53:57Z")
> [@Neurotik](#): > > I still say use the guillotine. Guaranteed quicker and less stressful than anything else. And best of all, somebody gets to go home with a door prize. ---
**Author:** ![Q.E.D](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/q/51bf81/32.png) [@Q.E.D](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Q.E.D)\ **Post date:** [February 8, 2006, 8:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/were-still-hanging-people/343587/9 "2006-02-08T20:58:04Z")
> [@ivylass](#): > > Okay, so you don’t want to execute someone by hanging because he might be decapitated? Isn’t he just as dead either way? It’s not so much for the benefit of the condemned, but for the sake of the observers. There’s no sense in subjecting the witnesses to unnecessary gore. That said, when done properly, judicial drop hanging is very quick and most likely painless, since it snaps the neck between the second and third vertebrae, causing instant unconciousness followed very quickly by death. ---
**Author:** ![Inigo\_Montoya](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/inigo_montoya/32/124_2.png) [@Inigo\_Montoya](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Inigo_Montoya)\ **Post date:** [February 8, 2006, 9:23pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/were-still-hanging-people/343587/10 "2006-02-08T21:23:34Z")
> [@Q.E.D.](#): > > it snaps the neck between the second and third vertebrae, causing instant unconciousness Or at least instant inability to make any agonizing condition known to the outside world. I think they like to “hang 'em high” in Washington State. I still think that, if we MUST execute folks using methods that consider “suffering” of the prisoner, then the most humane thing to do would be to drop a 16-ton weight on their head while it rests on a concrete pad. Or how about a healthy dose of heparin and a 12-gauge IV needle draining their blood into a bucket–Slow but no more painful than lethal injection. ---
**Author:** ![Philster](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/13edae/32.png) [@Philster](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Philster)\ **Post date:** [February 8, 2006, 9:44pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/were-still-hanging-people/343587/11 "2006-02-08T21:44:00Z")
Firing squads have been known to miss on purpose (‘accidentally on purpose’, inlficting wounds that aren’t quite lethal). :eek: Don’t know if I’d go that route. ---
**Author:** ![Johnny\_L.A](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/johnny_l.a/32/1084_2.png) [@Johnny\_L.A](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Johnny_L.A)\ **Post date:** [February 8, 2006, 9:43pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/were-still-hanging-people/343587/12 "2006-02-08T21:43:55Z")
> [@Neurotik](#): > > I still say use the guillotine. Guaranteed quicker and less stressful than anything else. I heard a factoid on _NCIS_ last night, that I’d heard before: The Nazis guillotined more people than were guillotined during the French Revolution. The number was around 20,000. I don’t know how many met Madam Guillotine during the revolution. ---
**Author:** ![The\_King\_of\_Soup](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/a87d85/32.png) [@The\_King\_of\_Soup](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/The_King_of_Soup)\ **Post date:** [February 8, 2006, 9:53pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/were-still-hanging-people/343587/13 "2006-02-08T21:53:18Z")
> [@Neurotik](#): > > I still say use the guillotine. Guaranteed quicker and less stressful than anything else. And best of all, it eliminates the risk of decapitation! Or, rather, removes the element of chance, which is _like_ eliminating risk. Sort of. Actually the problem with the death penalty is that it’s too humane. Poor murderer doesn’t want his little head to pop off? Take a few laps around the cell – about fifty thousand ought to do it. Or, if you want, just keel over from atherosclerosis instead. What we need is a new machine, housed in glass, into which we can feed our capital criminals so they can be shot, poisoned, hit with mallets, set afire, attacked by angry, steroid-enhanced voles, choked, poked, infected, bit by rattlesnakes, clubbed, made to chew lead paint chips, irradiated, frozen, coughed on, stabbed, exposed to asbestos, smeared with peanut butter\*, drowned, beaten, strangled, sliced, diced, washed, extruded, formed, chilled, breaded, seasoned, pressure-cooked, deep-fried and formed into meatballs which emerge from the machine on a conveyor belt and are then eaten off toothpicks by the witnesses, officials and victims’ family members. And after all that, I still expect to see this headline: “MURDERED GIRL’S SISTER SAYS GENERIC-BRAND BBQ SAUCE PREVENTS ‘CLOSURE’” \*Allergic Prisoners Only. ---
**Author:** ![Neurotik](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/91b2a8/32.png) [@Neurotik](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Neurotik)\ **Post date:** [February 8, 2006, 9:53pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/were-still-hanging-people/343587/14 "2006-02-08T21:53:20Z")
> [@Johnny L.A.](#): > > I heard a factoid on _NCIS_ last night, that I’d heard before: The Nazis guillotined more people than were guillotined during the French Revolution. The number was around 20,000. I don’t know how many met Madam Guillotine during the revolution. Yeah, but that’s not that impressive. Consider that the Reign of Terror only lasted about a year and killed somewhere between 18,000 and 40,000 people, whereas the Nazis had several years, mechanization and a larger population base to from which to draw in executees. ---
**Author:** ![she\_sells\_sea\_snails](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/ea5d25/32.png) [@she\_sells\_sea\_snails](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/she_sells_sea_snails)\ **Post date:** [February 8, 2006, 10:06pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/were-still-hanging-people/343587/15 "2006-02-08T22:06:59Z")
I wonder why we don’t do it the easy way and put them in a car in the garage with the motor running. ---
**Author:** ![Q.E.D](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/q/51bf81/32.png) [@Q.E.D](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Q.E.D)\ **Post date:** [February 8, 2006, 10:13pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/were-still-hanging-people/343587/16 "2006-02-08T22:13:46Z")
> [@she sells sea snails](#): > > I wonder why we don’t do it the easy way and put them in a car in the garage with the motor running. Well, there are easier and quicker ways if you’re going to use CO poisoning. Modern cars are pretty clean-running, and don’t produce all that much CO–it would take hours. Much quicker to just get a tank of the stuff. CO is used for a number of industrial processes, and is readily available in pressurized tanks from industrial gas suppliers. ---
**Author:** ![Johnny\_L.A](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/johnny_l.a/32/1084_2.png) [@Johnny\_L.A](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Johnny_L.A)\ **Post date:** [February 8, 2006, 10:16pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/were-still-hanging-people/343587/17 "2006-02-08T22:16:54Z")
‘Do you believe in capital punishment for women?’ ‘Yes.’ ‘So you think a woman should be hung like a man?’ _rim shot_ ---
**Author:** ![Rodd\_Hill](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/3ab097/32.png) [@Rodd\_Hill](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Rodd_Hill)\ **Post date:** [February 8, 2006, 10:29pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/were-still-hanging-people/343587/18 "2006-02-08T22:29:30Z")
Hmm…how about tying them to the front of a cannon. Can’t “accidentally aim high” on that one. The practice, incidentally, was an old Moghul one, reinstated by the British during the Raj. ---
**Author:** ![Ravenman](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ravenman/32/2929_2.png) [@Ravenman](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ravenman)\ **Post date:** [February 8, 2006, 10:41pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/were-still-hanging-people/343587/19 "2006-02-08T22:41:41Z")
> [@The Weird One](#): > > Hanging, nuthin.’ If I ever kill somebody, I’m going to do it in Utah, just so’s I can die by [firing squad.](http://www.deathpenaltyinfo.org/article.php?scid=8&did=479#firing) My recollection is that there is something in the Mormon faith about the spilling of blood being required for the taking of a life… and I seem to think that there is a flip side, as in, a Mormon who may be executed may prefer to have his blood spilled, perhaps as an absolution of sin? (Just a WAG) ---
**Author:** ![Imasquare](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/i/5f9b8f/32.png) [@Imasquare](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Imasquare)\ **Post date:** [February 8, 2006, 11:07pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/were-still-hanging-people/343587/20 "2006-02-08T23:07:44Z")
> [@ivylass](#): > > Okay, so you don’t want to execute someone by hanging because he might be decapitated? Isn’t he just as dead either way? Someone would have to clean up the rather grisly mess. [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/were-still-hanging-people/343587.md?page=2)