Capital
Punishment
Methods (pp116-117)
Capital Punishment- today

Knowledge and Understanding — historic and
contemporary use of Capital Punishment in UK
and world-wide (including overview of historic and
current case studies), methods of execution, UN
declarations. pp110-119

Analysis — Religious and secular viewpoints on
the issues. pp 120-126

Evaluation —Comment on the strengths and
weaknesses of viewpoints on capital punishment;
religious and moral implications for the individual
and society. pp 120-126
Discussion Point
 Do
you think Capital Punishment
is an acceptable sentence for
crime?
 Are
there any situations where CP
is more acceptable than others?
Issues we will return to

How traumatic should CP be? What is the
aim of CP (to kill/humiliate/degrade)?

Should CP be public or private (a dignified
death)?

Should CP kill humanely and quickly?
7 seconds

Take seven seconds and look around you.

What do you smell?

What do you taste?

What do you feel?
7 seconds

Our brains stores enough oxygen for
seven seconds of consciousness.

After beheading you would still have this
amount of blood to keep you conscious.

Some people say the shock would cause
you to black out. But what if you didn’t…
Methods Used Worldwide
There are 7 main methods of execution in
current use worldwide:
• Hanging: if properly conducted, this is a humane
method. The neck is broken and death comes
quickly.
•However, if the free-fall distance is inadequate,
the prisoner ends up slowly being strangled to
death. If it is too great, the rope will tear his/her
head off.
• Electric chair: Nobody knows for sure
how quickly a person dies from the
electric shock, or what pain they
experience.
The internal
organs are
burned. It can
often take a few
charges of
electricity before
the person is
killed.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HNB7N
OEU3IM
•Firing squad: The prisoner is bound and shot
through the heart by multiple marksmen. Death
appears to be quick, assuming the killers don't miss.
In the U.S., only Utah used this method. It was
abandoned in favour of lethal injection on 2004MAR-15, except for four convicted killers on death
row who had previously chosen death by firing squad.
•Poison gas:
Cyanide is
dropped into
acid producing
Hydrogen
Cyanide, a
deadly gas.
This takes many
minutes of agony
before a person
dies.
•
Lethal injection: Lethal drugs are injected into the
prisoner while he lays strapped down to a table. If
properly conducted, the prisoner fades quickly into
unconsciousness. If the dosage of drugs is too low, the
person may linger for many minutes, experiencing
paralysis. Executions in the U.S. are gradually shifting
to this method.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dfiaDkK
_sY8
Guillotine + Be-heading: A famous French
invention. It severs the neck. Death comes very
quickly (but very messy). (Be-heading in many
Muslim countries).
•
• Stoning: The prisoner is often buried up to her or
his neck and pelted with rocks until they eventually
die. The rocks are chosen so that they are large
enough to cause significant injury to the victim, but
are not so large that a single rock will kill the
prisoner. Used in some Muslim/ African countries as a
penalty for murder, adultery and other crimes.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MIaORknS1Dk
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fPqNCr8KKdU
From Times Gone by
• Burning at the stake in public was used in Britain
to punish heresy and in some cases witchcraft,
committed by either sex, but latterly for women
convicted of High Treason or Petty Treason.
The garrotte (or garotte) was
the standard civilian method of
execution in Spain.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Pov2Ztg
O_r4
•Hung, Drawn and Quartered - This was the ultimate
punishment available in English law for men who had
been convicted of High Treason. Women were burned
at the stake instead, apparently for the sake of
decency.
The full sentence passed upon
those convicted of High Treason up
to 1870 was as follows :
“That you be drawn on a hurdle to
the place of execution where you
shall be hanged by the neck and
being alive cut down, your privy
members shall be cut off and your
bowels taken out and burned before
you, your head severed from your
body and your body divided into
four quarters to be disposed of at
the King’s pleasure.” So not for the
faint-hearted then!!
Capital Punishment- today

Knowledge and Understanding — historic and
contemporary use of Capital Punishment in UK
and world-wide (including overview of historic and
current case studies), methods of execution, UN
declarations. pp110-119

Analysis — Religious and secular viewpoints on
the issues. pp 120-126

Evaluation —Comment on the strengths and
weaknesses of viewpoints on capital punishment;
religious and moral implications for the individual
and society. pp 120-126
Your
senses
are lying to
you.
The State of Play

Capital punishment has been used in almost every
part of the globe, but in the last few decades many
countries have abolished it. Abolitionist groups
including Amnesty International classifies countries
into four categories:




58 countries maintain the death penalty in both law and
practice.
94 have abolished it.
10 retain it for crimes committed in exceptional
circumstances (such as in time of war).
35 permit its use for ordinary crimes, but have not used it
for at least 10 years and are believed to have a policy or
established practice of not carrying out executions or is
under a moratorium.
Status of the death penalty worldwide as of 2005-NOV:
Status of the death penalty worldwide as of 2005-NOV:
Blue: Abolished for all crimes
Green: Abolished for crimes not committed in exceptional circumstances (such as
crimes committed in time of war)
Orange: Abolished in practice
Red: Legal form of punishment for heinous offences.
Since 2005

Death Penalty Outlawed








Argentina (2008)
Chile (2008)
Cook Islands (2007)
Mexico (2005)
Liberia (2005)
Rwanda (2007)
Uzbekistan (2008)
Death Penalty Outlawed for ‘normal crimes’


Kazakhstan (2007)
Kyrgyzstan (2007
The Death Penalty Worldwide

According to Amnesty International, 137 countries have
abolished the death penalty.

Argentina, Chile, and Uzbekistan outlawed the death
penalty in 2008.

During 2007, 24 countries, 88% in China, Iran, Pakistan,
Saudi Arabia, and the United States alone, executed
1,252 people compared to 1,591 in 2006.

Nearly 3,350 people were sentenced to death in 51
countries.

More than 20,000 prisoners are on death row across the
world.
The Death Penalty is Permitted in:

Afghanistan, Antigua and Barbuda, Bahamas, Bahrain,
Bangladesh, Barbados, Belarus, Belize, Botswana, Burundi,
Cameroon, Chad, China (People's Republic), Comoros
Congo (Democratic Republic), Cuba, Dominica, Egypt,
Equatorial Guinea, Eritrea, Ethiopia, Gabon, Ghana,
Guatemala, Guinea, Guyana, India, Indonesia, Iran, Iraq,
Jamaica, Japan, Jordan, Korea North, Korea South, Kuwait,
Laos, Lebanon, Lesotho, Libya, Malawi, Malaysia, Mongolia,
Nigeria, Oman, Pakistan, Palestinian Authority, Qatar, St.
Kitts and Nevis St., Lucia St. Vincent and the Grenadines,
Saudi Arabia, Sierra Leone, Singapore, Somalia, Sudan,
Swaziland, Syria, Taiwan, Tajikistan, Tanzania, Thailand,
Trinidad and Tobago, Uganda, United Arab Emirates, United
States, Vietnam, Yemen, Zambia and Zimbabwe.
It is important to realise that the definition
of heinous offences varies greatly around the
world.
In some states of the U.S. the death penalty
is restricted to multiple murderers.
Engaging in Pre-marital sex or changing one's
religion can be a capital offence in other
countries.
The
year is
3577.
Issues we can return to

How traumatic should CP be? What is the
aim of CP (to kill/humiliate/degrade)?

Should CP be public or private (a dignified
death)?

Should CP kill humanely and quickly?
Purpose and Capital Punishment
 To
what extent does Capital
Punishment?
Gain retribution
Reform
Deter
Protect
Capital Punishment- Thursday

Knowledge and Understanding — historic and
contemporary use of Capital Punishment in UK
and world-wide (including overview of historic and
current case studies), methods of execution, UN
declarations. pp 110-115

Analysis — Religious and secular viewpoints on
the issues.

Evaluation —Comment on the strengths and
weaknesses of viewpoints on capital punishment;
religious and moral implications for the individual
and society.
Specifically

Timothy Evans

Ruth Ellis
For Thursday 27th Aug

“Capital punishment is still legal in the
United States of America”
Describe in detail two methods of
execution in the USA.
4KU