Historical Methods of Torture and Execution Essay

There are many different types of tortures. Torture was used as a source of punishment in the medieval times. One popular method of torture is the Judas Cradle. The Judas Cradle consisted of a pyramid shaped wooden tool where the victim was placed

The following are some ways people were executed in Europe during the time period we are studying. My intent here is not to “gross you out.” It is not even to shock you. The sad fact is that throughout history, especially in Europe, people have thought of incredibly cruel and barbaric ways to punish those who have committed crimes. This, unfortunately, is part of history.

In the Early Middle Ages, only Trial by Ordeal was used. This trial was based on the belief that God would save the Innocent and punish the guilty and had horrific methods, such as placing an arm in boiling water or holding an iron bar. (Tol & Zagora 2014, p. 63) With the Norman Conquest in 1066, William the Conqueror introduced trial by combat (Rickards, 2012). Trial by combat was used for the nobles, where the accused would fight the accuser. William the Conqueror believed that God would protect the Innocent when the parties fought. The guilty would’ve then be punished severely (Easton & Saldais 2011, pp. 330, 331). With the creation of the Magna Carta in 1215 (Trueman, 2016) there were many changes to the Trial Procedures. The Magna Carta abolished Trial by Ordeal and replaced it with Trial by Jury, which involved a jury hearing a case and deciding the guilt or innocence of the accused. Many people didn’t trust trial by jury, which led to a law being created in 1275 stating that if a criminal didn’t choose trial by jury then they were tortured (Addison, et al. 2011). Therefore, evidence shows changes in power and laws transformed trial

Furthermore, in the 1830s and 1840s capital punishment was targeted nationwide (Henderson, 9). The movement against the death penalty sought to “halt public executions” (Henderson, 9). Public executions at the time were widely attended and seen as a form of entertainment (Henderson, 9). The most popular form of execution at this time (and still today in some countries) was hanging (Beliveau, 202). Although this type of execution was common when carrying out the death sentence, it was not always the most humane. Beliveau claims that “contrary to what is often believed, in the majority of cases it is not the blocking of air entering the lungs that causes death” (202). In addition, the most common types of hanging were short-drop hanging and long-drop hanging (Beliveau, 203-4). Short-drop hanging was the more common of the two and had similar effects to dying by strangulation whereas long-drop hanging was created with the intent of executing someone in a more humane way (Beliveau, 203-4). Other methods of capital punishment include decapitation, lethal injection, electrocution, gas chamber, hanging, firing squad (Denver et al).

First hanging execution to Kendall for being a spy for Spain. British law in 1610s routinely handed out the death sentence even for minor crimes like robbery, burglary.

Have you ever thought of what it would be like to live in the Elizabethan Era? Let me just say, it may not be as fun as it seems. In the Elizabethan Era, crimes were punishable with grueling forms of torture that killed or severely hurt thousands of criminals.

· Thomas More: was executed in the 1700s for being a “traitor” to the Roman Catholic Church in England. According to the laws of his time…. The accused man had no “rights” in the contemporary sense. There was no presumption of innocence, and the prisoner was given no opportunity to call witnesses in his defense… Thomas More was convicted of being contempt, and not following the rules of the church. He was sentenced to death by having his head cut off with an axe. After his death, the flesh was boiled off of his head, it was then impaled upon a pole raised above the London Bridge.

Execution Methods used in the Holocaust When the Holocaust is mentioned most people immediately think of the concentration camps. They predict scrawny people in dirty striped uniforms staring closely as the others are numerously getting buried, or being bulldozed into mass graves. Those horrific scenes were real but they are not the entire Holocaust. There were other methods of execution throughout the

Finally, as the moment of truth arrived and the first victim's face was shoved down into the lunette, or, slot for one's head, the crowd would become silent. Then, as the blade rose and fell, they would erupt in cheers and shouts of joy as blood slowly trickled onto the streets.

Torture (Latin torquere, “to twist”), in law, infliction of severe bodily pain either as punishment, or to compel a person to confess to a crime, or to give evidence in a judicial proceeding. Among primitive peoples, torture has been used as a means of ordeal and to punish captured enemies. Examination by torture, often called the “question,” has been used in many countries as a judicial method. It involves using instruments to extort evidence from unwilling witnesses.

What is the worst way you have ever been punished for doing something bad? You should consider yourself lucky this isn’t medieval times anymore. In medieval times people could be punished for something they didn’t even do. Victims would be punished with all kinds of different devices and torture techniques. Most of the time, the reason for these punishments was to either get revenge or to make a person confess.

Outside the elevator, there are some prisoners enclosing a guard with a gun, who is shooting them as they attempt to bring him down. Andrei exits the lift outfitted with a sledgehammer, and fiercely kills the guard. The detainees at that point push open a vast metal

The guillotine has had other machines like it that were just as deadly but with different names. The guillotine was fashioned from the idea of two other decapitation machines (Andrews). One of them is the Halifax Gibbet. It is thought that the first time an execution by beheading was done was in Halifax. Which is how the Halifax Gibbet received its name (HistoryLearningSite). This machine stood fifteen feet tall and used an axe head attached to a piece of wood that slid between grooves of the two fifteen foot beams (Wilde).

To my utter shock and disbelief, not one word about those 400 million Chinese seeing nothing wrong with cutting off limbs to make dog leg soup, or nailing cats and dogs to the wall with nail guns or throwing them alive into a boiling pot of water or oil, because of some backward Chinese sick belief that torture is some sort of ancient Chinese tenderizing method and the more horrendous the torture the better the meat will

If everything was done correctly, the execution would be finished in a matter of seconds. Unfortunately, that was not usually the case, and the deaths were slow and painful. The end results of a hanging consisted of the eyes popping out of their sockets, protruding tongue, bloated face, defecation, and severe jerking of the body and appendages (Descriptions”).