Editing Hanging (section)

===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>