Editing Hanging (section)

==Methods of judicial hanging==
There are numerous methods of hanging in execution that instigate death either by [[cervical fracture]] or by [[Strangling|strangulation]].

===Short drop===
The short drop is a method of hanging in which the condemned prisoner stands on a raised support, such as a stool, ladder, cart, horse, or other vehicle, with the noose around the neck. The support is then moved away, leaving the person dangling from the rope.<ref name="Hughes2012">{{cite book |last=Hughes |first=Robert |title=The Fatal Shore: The epic of Australia's founding|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=fv_X8HYL4QQC&pg=PA33 |access-date=29 September 2014 |date=11 January 2012 |publisher=Knopf Doubleday |isbn=978-0-307-81560-6 |pages=33ff |quote=Before the invention of the hinged trapdoor through which the victim was dropped, he or she was 'turned off' or 'twisted' by the hangman who pulled the ladder away.|archive-date=6 May 2016|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160506184941/https://books.google.com/books?id=fv_X8HYL4QQC&pg=PA33|url-status=live}}</ref><ref name="Potter1965">{{cite book|last=Potter|first=John Deane|title=The Art of Hanging|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=snRAAAAAMAAJ&q=%22turned%20off%22&pg=PA23|access-date=29 September 2014|year=1965|publisher=A. S. Barnes|page=23|isbn=978-0-498-07387-8|quote=...&nbsp;condemned persons still mounted a ladder which was turned round, leaving them dangling. This led to the phrase 'turned off'—they were literally turned off the ladder.|archive-date=26 April 2016|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160426072557/https://books.google.com/books?id=snRAAAAAMAAJ&pg=PA23&q=%22turned%20off%22|url-status=live}}</ref>

Suspended by the neck, the weight of the body tightens the noose around the neck, effecting [[strangulation]] and death. Loss of consciousness is typically rapid and death ensues in a few minutes.<ref>{{cite journal |title= Agonal Sequences in a Filmed Suicidal Hanging: Analysis of Respiratory and Movement Responses to Asphyxia by Hanging |journal=Journal of Forensic Sciences |volume=52 |issue=4 |pages=957–959 |doi=10.1111/j.1556-4029.2007.00459.x |pmid=17524058 |year=2007 |last1=Sauvageau |first1=Anny |last2=Racette |first2=Stéphanie |s2cid=32188375 }}</ref>

Before 1850, the short drop was the standard method of hanging, and it is still common in [[suicides]] and extrajudicial hangings (such as [[lynchings]] and [[summary execution]]s) which lack the specialised equipment and [[Official Table of Drops|drop-length calculation tables]] used in the newer methods.[[File:Biskupia Gorka executions - 14 - Barkmann, Paradies, Becker, Klaff, Steinhoff (left to right).jpg|thumb|Execution of guards and [[kapo]]s of the [[Stutthof concentration camp]] on 4 July 1946 by short-drop hanging. In the foreground are the female overseers: [[Jenny-Wanda Barkmann]], [[Ewa Paradies]], [[Elisabeth Becker]], [[Wanda Klaff]], [[Gerda Steinhoff]] (left to right).]]
==== Pole method ====
[[File:Hromadná poprava Srbů.jpg|thumb|Mass execution using "pole-hanging" of Serbs by the [[Austro-Hungarian army]] in 1916]]
A short-drop variant is the [[Austro-Hungarian]] "pole" method, called {{lang|de|Würgegalgen}} (literally: strangling gallows), in which the following steps take place:

# The condemned is made to stand before a specialized vertical pole or pillar, approximately {{convert|3|metres|ft}} in height.
# A rope is attached around the condemned's feet and routed through a pulley at the base of the pole.
# The condemned is hoisted to the top of the pole by means of a sling running across the chest and under the arms.
# A narrow-diameter noose is looped around the prisoner's neck, then secured to a hook mounted at the top of the pole.
# The chest sling is released, and the prisoner is rapidly jerked downward by the assistant executioners via the foot rope, thus resulting in strangulation and death. 

This method was later also adopted by the successor states, most notably by [[Czechoslovakia]], where the "pole" method was used as the single type of execution from 1918 until 1954, when the prison hosting Czechoslovakia's executions, [[Pankrác Prison]], constructed an indoor gallows that exclusively accommodated short-drop hangings to replace the pole method.<ref>{{Cite web |title=Olga Hepnarová - The Last Woman Executed in Czechoslovakia |url=https://www.capitalpunishmentuk.org/hepnarova.html |access-date=2024-10-28 |website=Capital Punishment UK}}</ref> Nazi war criminal [[Karl Hermann Frank]], executed in 1946 in [[Prague]], was among approximately 1,000 condemned people executed by the pole hanging method in Czechoslovakia.<ref name="KHF">{{cite web|url=http://www.executedtoday.com/2009/05/22/1946-karl-hermann-frank/|title=1946: Karl Hermann Frank|date=22 May 2009|website=Executedtoday.com|access-date=8 October 2017|archive-date=19 October 2017|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20171019024441/http://www.executedtoday.com/2009/05/22/1946-karl-hermann-frank/|url-status=live}}</ref>

===Standard drop===
[[File:Execution of Henry Wirz.jpg|thumb|upright=1.1|The execution of [[Henry Wirz]] in 1865 near the U.S. Capitol; Wirz was given a standard drop, which did not break his neck]]
The standard drop involves a drop of between {{convert|4|and(-)|6|ft}} and came into use from 1866, when the scientific details were published by Irish doctor [[Samuel Haughton]]. Its use rapidly spread to English-speaking countries and those with judicial systems of English origin.

It was considered a humane improvement on the short drop because it was intended to be enough to [[cervical fracture|break the person's neck]], causing immediate unconsciousness and rapid brain death.<ref>{{cite web|title=How Does Death by Hanging Work?|work=How Stuff Works|url=https://health.howstuffworks.com/diseases-conditions/death-dying/death-by-hanging.htm|date=2007-01-04|access-date=30 January 2019|archive-date=25 January 2022|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220125084920/https://health.howstuffworks.com/diseases-conditions/death-dying/death-by-hanging.htm|url-status=live}}</ref><ref>{{cite journal |title=Cause of death in judicial hanging: a review and case study |journal=Medicine, Science, and the Law |volume=49 |issue=1 |pages=18–26 |pmid=19306616 |year=2009 |last1=Hellier |first1=C. |last2=Connolly |first2=R. |doi=10.1258/rsmmsl.49.1.18 |s2cid=34469210 }}</ref>

This method was used to execute condemned [[Nazism|Nazis]] under United States jurisdiction after the [[Nuremberg Trials]], including [[Joachim von Ribbentrop]] and [[Ernst Kaltenbrunner]].<ref>Report by Kingsbury Smith, International News Service, 16 October 1946.</ref>{{nonspecific|date=January 2023}} In the execution of Ribbentrop, historian Giles MacDonogh records that: "The hangman botched the execution and the rope throttled the former foreign minister for 20 minutes before he expired."<ref>MacDonogh G., ''After the Reich'' [[John Murray (publishing house)|John Murray]], London (2008) p. 450.</ref> A ''[[Life (magazine)|Life]]'' magazine report on the execution merely says: "The trap fell open and with a sound midway between a rumble and a crash, Ribbentrop disappeared. The rope quivered for a time, then stood tautly straight."<ref>[https://books.google.com/books?id=iU0EAAAAMBAJ&pg=PA42 "The Gallows Chamber"]. ''Life'', 28 October 1946. {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160512222220/https://books.google.com/books?id=iU0EAAAAMBAJ&pg=PA42 |date=12 May 2016 }}.</ref>

===Long drop===
{{See also|Official Table of Drops}}
[[File:KetchumDecapitated.jpg|left|thumb|Sepia-tone photo from a contemporary 1901 postcard showing [[Tom Ketchum]]'s decapitated body following a botched execution by long-drop hanging. Caption reads "Body of Black Jack after the hanging showing head snapped off."]]
[[File:Karl Morgenschweis prays for condemned prisoner.jpg|thumb|upright|Execution of an unidentified Nazi war criminal after [[World War II]]]]
The long-drop process, also known as the measured drop, was introduced to Britain in 1872 by [[William Marwood]] as a scientific advance on the standard drop, and further refined by his successor [[James Berry (executioner)|James Berry]]. Instead of everyone falling the same standard distance, the person's height and weight<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.capitalpunishmentuk.org/hanging1.html|title=History of British judicial hanging|website=Capital Punishment UK|access-date=8 October 2017|archive-date=29 July 2012|archive-url=https://archive.today/20120729004603/http://www.capitalpunishmentuk.org/hanging1.html|url-status=live}}</ref> were used to determine how much slack would be provided in the rope so that the distance dropped would be enough to ensure that the neck was broken, but not so much that the person was decapitated. Careful placement of the eye or knot of the noose (so that the head was jerked back as the rope tightened) contributed to breaking the neck.

Prior to 1892, the drop was in the range of {{cvt|4|-|10|ft}}, depending on the weight of the body, and was calculated to deliver an energy of {{convert|1,260|ft.lbf|lk=on}}, which fractured the neck at either the 2nd and 3rd or 4th and 5th [[cervical vertebrae]]. This force resulted in some decapitations, such as the infamous case of [[Tom Ketchum|Black Jack Ketchum]] in [[New Mexico Territory]] in 1901, owing to a significant weight gain while in custody not having been factored into the drop calculations. Between 1892 and 1913, the length of the drop was shortened to avoid decapitation. After 1913, other factors were also taken into account, and the energy delivered was reduced to about {{convert|1,000|ft.lbf}}.

The decapitation of [[Eva Dugan]] during a botched hanging in 1930 led the state of [[Arizona]] to switch to the [[gas chamber]] as its primary execution method, on the grounds that it was believed more humane.<ref>[https://query.nytimes.com/gst/fullpage.html?res=9E0CE5D7113BF936A15757C0A964958260 "Gruesome death in gas chamber pushes Arizona towards injections"]. ''[[The New York Times]]'', 25 April 1992. {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110103182212/http://query.nytimes.com/gst/fullpage.html?res=9E0CE5D7113BF936A15757C0A964958260 |date=3 January 2011 }}. Retrieved 7 January 2008.</ref> One of the more recent decapitations as a result of the long drop occurred when [[Barzan Ibrahim al-Tikriti]] was hanged in Iraq in 2007.<ref>{{citation |url=http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/middle_east/6261965.stm |title=Saddam Hussein's top aides hanged |date=15 January 2007 |work=BBC News |access-date=6 December 2011 |archive-date=2 March 2016 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160302020820/http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/middle_east/6261965.stm |url-status=live }}</ref> Accidental decapitation also occurred during the 1962 hanging of [[Arthur Lucas]], one of the last two people put to death in Canada.<ref>{{citation |url=https://www.thestar.com/news/gta/article/1299928--the-end-of-the-rope-the-story-of-canada-s-last-executions |title=The end of the rope: The story of Canada's last executions |date=10 December 2012 |publisher=Toronto Star |access-date=10 December 2012 |archive-date=11 December 2012 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20121211071224/http://www.thestar.com/news/gta/article/1299928--the-end-of-the-rope-the-story-of-canada-s-last-executions |url-status=live }}</ref>

Nazis executed under British jurisdiction, including [[Josef Kramer]], [[Fritz Klein]], [[Irma Grese]] and [[Elisabeth Volkenrath]], were hanged by [[Albert Pierrepoint]] using the variable-drop method devised by Marwood. The record speed for a British long-drop hanging was seven seconds from the executioner entering the cell to the drop. Speed was considered to be important in the British system as it reduced the condemned's mental distress.<ref name="isbn0-340-21307-8">{{cite book |last=Pierrepoint |first=Albert |title=Executioner: Pierrepoint |publisher=Hodder & Stoughton General Division |year=1989 |isbn=978-0-340-21307-0 }}</ref>

Long-drop hanging is still practiced as the method of execution in a few countries, including [[Capital punishment in Japan|Japan]] and Singapore.<ref name=":0">{{Cite web |date=2023-04-25 |title='Seven days of horror and hope': What happens during someone's last days on death row in Singapore |url=https://coconuts.co/singapore/news/seven-days-of-horror-and-hope-what-happens-during-someones-last-days-on-death-row-in-singapore/ |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20231209153304/https://coconuts.co/singapore/news/seven-days-of-horror-and-hope-what-happens-during-someones-last-days-on-death-row-in-singapore/ |archive-date=2023-12-09 |access-date=2023-12-09 |website=Coconuts |language=en-US}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web|url=https://japantoday.com/category/features/kuchikomi/politics-and-capital-punishment-a-volatile-mixture|title = Politics and capital punishment a volatile mixture|work=Japan Times| date=23 June 2008 | access-date=28 November 2023 }}</ref>