String Ĺem up?
On the 28th of October 1965, a Private Member’s Bill received Royal Assent, abolishing the death penalty for murder in the United Kingdom. It had originally been abolished in the 11th Century by William the Conqueror, and was then reinstated by his son William Rufus. Hangings in England reached a peak during the reign of Edward VI in the 1550s, when on average, one person was executed every day. The death penalty could be imposed by magistrates, and hangings were often carried out on village greens.
In the 1970s, the Supreme Court in the United States declared the death penalty constitutional, reinstating it after a period of absence. In Britain, all major political parties have committed themselves to not reinstating the death penalty, and it is considered politically very dangerous to support it. In contrast, the rate of executions are rising in the USA, with 38 of the 50 states allowing for it. Usual methods include hanging, electrocution, lethal injection, gas chamber and firing squad, with some countries, notably ones observing Sharia (Islamic Law) beheading, amputating and stoning prisoners. More imaginative methods of dispensing with prisoners include cannibalism (practised in Africa), Necklacing (a rubber tire placed around the neck and set alight), and the ‘Thousand Cuts’ (being lashed to death), practised in China. Historical methods of execution and torture include being boiled alive (used against poisoners in medieval England), being buried alive, burnt at the stake (to purify the soul, apparently), eaten by animals, flayed, drawn and quartered, impaled (but only through non-vital organs), being put on the Iron Chair/Bed (which was then put on the fire), the Iron Maiden (female effigies, hollowed out, with spikes inside: prisoners were ‘embraced’ by the Maiden), crucifixions (originally done from trees), drowning, being blown from a cannon, the pendulum (read Edgar Allan Poe?), poison, pressing, rack, sawn in half, death by insects (popular with Native Americans against troublesome settlers), shot by arrows (popular with the Vikings), the Wooden Horse (you don’t want to know), starvation (France had oubliettes who were imprisoned and ‘forgotten about.’), garrotte, thrown from a great height, and the Cauldron (you want to know about this one even less). There are plenty of international treaties banning such horrific punishments, but it makes me feel very happy to have been born in the late 20th Century!
