I know the common line of reasoning that a long drop will snap a critical vertebra and cause instant death.
But it is a misconception that normal suspension hangings cause death by painful choking / strangulation. From a vast number of sources I have read that everyone passes out in 10 seconds. It is called a “carotid choke” and it works on everyone. Basically the amount of force you need to compress your carotid arteries in less than the force you need to compress your trachea.
Is not the above true?
then why do judicial hangings take the extra pain of doing that work of calculating fall heights, risk decapitation (which is gruesome to viewers)?
Don’t know if the 10 seconds figure is true, but how is that an argument for shorter ropes? Not that hanging is all the common in the developed world in the first place.
We’re not monsters. If we absolutely must kill somebody, making that death as quick and instant as possible is surely preferable to even 10 seconds of the realization you’re in the process of dying.
If the risk of decapitation is potentially tough on viewers, tough titties. Death isn’t supposed to be pleasant, and if it brings home the weight and responsibility of that judgment, all the better. The decision to kill anybody, even a convicted criminal, shouldn’t be taken lightly at all.
Not going to link them but there are plenty of videos of Iranian executions on the internet where they either lift them up with a crane or just kick a chair out with no drop.
They kick for a long time, several minutes in some cases. Whether the rope completely cuts off the carotid is a matter of chance.
Since most developed countries have bans on “cruel and unusual punishment” or torture, short drop or crane lifted hangings are not used.
During English hangings of a couple centuries ago, if you had money you’d pay a kid to grab your legs after the drop so you’d have a quicker death. This annoyed the crowd who enjoyed the show of the criminal jerking in agony.
While a broken neck will cause paralysis of the body (hence, no kicking!); will it really kill instantly? Death would in any case result from lack of oxygen in the brain, right?
If the calculations are properly done the risk of decapitation are about the same as strangulation death, that is, quite low for either case.
Even if “everyone” passes out within 10 seconds that’s still 10 seconds of choking to death (and there is ample evidence that a lot of people take a lot longer than 10 seconds). The purpose of execution in the modern western world, where it exists at all, is to cause death with a minimum of distress to everyone involved, both spectators and the person being killed. Therefore, minimal thrashing and twitching on the part of the victim and avoid decapitations because they bother the audience, even if the audience is minimal. Not to mention messier clean up.
It wouldn’t cause death instantly but it would likely cause unconsciousness instantly, followed by death from lack of oxygen to the brain shortly thereafter. In a judicial hanging, this is practically the same as instant death.
if you snap the neck at the right place it causes respiratory arrest and paralysis, and thus the victim suffocates to death, exactly the same as if strangled except without all that distressing kicking and thrashing about. It is unknown how long the brain remains conscious while this is happening. Just because a body is moving/not moving doesn’t mean the brain is conscious. Headless chickens can run.
Decapitated rat heads show EEG activity for up to 30 seconds, but it’s unclear if they are conscious.
In the second book of Neal Stephenson’s Baroque Cycle, The King Of The Vagabonds, the executioner extorts money from condemned men: the rich ones who can pay him off get a long drop and die quickly, the poor ones get a short drop. The young vagabond Jack Shaftoe and his crew start up a lucrative business among the poorer condemned men: for less money than the executioner demands, they will hang off the man’s legs at execution after the short drop, adding their weight so that he dies faster.
I have evidence to show (from books, online resources) that the amount of pressure needed to compress the carotids is way lesser than that needed to compress the trachea.
I do understand that long hanging is better. But every time I see a video or article of Iranian hangings I see everyone commenting that it is extremely brutal. Even the video itself doesn’t have the guy vigorously moving or anything.
can I link to website without anything gory? just science and statistics.
Likewise if you were a woman and condemned to be burnt at the stake (say for killing your husband or counterfeiting) you could bribe the executioner to strangle you to death before the fire was lit.
That may be true, but now you need to analyze the various forces in a rope around your neck to determine if it can apply sufficient pressure in the correct places to produce the effects you desire. In thinking about it, I’d expect the force on the front of their throat to be significantly higher than that on the sides of their neck, where the arteries are.