Capital punishment is regarded as one of the severest form of punishment in the history of mankind.
There is evidence that years before, during the medieval era, capital punishment was sentenced even for extremely trivial and inconsequential matters.
Also, the methods of administering death penalty were immensely harsh and gruesome.
Thankfully over the years, the judiciary in most countries has adopted a more civilized attitude towards this punishment and death penalty is reserved for extremely heinous crimes.
However, during the medieval times, the approach towards capital punishment was rather insensitive.
The severity of the crime was often incomparable to the brutality of the punishment announced.
People were executed for minor crimes such as stealing, cheating or even trespassing.
Several methods were implemented for the execution, many of which had little humanity aspect attached to them.
One of the oldest methods of practicing capital punishment was hanging.
This method originating from Persia was restricted only for male criminals.
The method was considered to be less harsh in nature as it was relatively simpler with no involvement of blood.
Also, it was less taxing financially and no specific expertise was required by the executioner.
This form of punishment is prevalent to date in countries such as Singapore, Japan, India, Pakistan and three states in US.
Decapitation involved the beheading of a criminal by means of a sword or axe.
The Romans were the first one's to initiate this method of punishment, sentenced mainly for criminals belonging to the upper strata of society.
Although this process was quite gory, it was preferred paying heed to the reduced time span of associated torture.
When it came to crimes of witchcraft or heresy, burning was the most common form of execution.
The culprit was tied to a stake and burnt alive publicly in order to re-enforce the dire consequences attached to the felony.
People accused of witchcraft were also subjected to drowning at times.
This was conducted with the view that if the body of the offender floated, it would stamp his or her accusation, while drowning would prove the person non-guilty.
The women were mainly executed by drowning.
They were granted this form of punishment as a privilege since this type of execution was considered less cruel.
Strangulation was another method of capital punishment conducted for women instead of hanging.
The method of crucification was undoubtedly the most painful but it had a certain dignity associated to it in the memory of Jesus.
Extremely severe criminals penalized with murder were executed through quartering by horses.
Imparting death through the wheel was also common in those times.
Stoning was mainly carried out in the Islamic part of the world, the main crime for its attribution being infidelity.
Of all the form of execution, impalement was the most gruesome as it involved stabbing a stake into the private parts of the culprit and taking it out from the other end of the body.
The list of the ways of administering capital punishment is horrifying.
However, it took many years for people to understand that such forms of punishment only put an end to the criminal not the crime.
There is evidence that years before, during the medieval era, capital punishment was sentenced even for extremely trivial and inconsequential matters.
Also, the methods of administering death penalty were immensely harsh and gruesome.
Thankfully over the years, the judiciary in most countries has adopted a more civilized attitude towards this punishment and death penalty is reserved for extremely heinous crimes.
However, during the medieval times, the approach towards capital punishment was rather insensitive.
The severity of the crime was often incomparable to the brutality of the punishment announced.
People were executed for minor crimes such as stealing, cheating or even trespassing.
Several methods were implemented for the execution, many of which had little humanity aspect attached to them.
One of the oldest methods of practicing capital punishment was hanging.
This method originating from Persia was restricted only for male criminals.
The method was considered to be less harsh in nature as it was relatively simpler with no involvement of blood.
Also, it was less taxing financially and no specific expertise was required by the executioner.
This form of punishment is prevalent to date in countries such as Singapore, Japan, India, Pakistan and three states in US.
Decapitation involved the beheading of a criminal by means of a sword or axe.
The Romans were the first one's to initiate this method of punishment, sentenced mainly for criminals belonging to the upper strata of society.
Although this process was quite gory, it was preferred paying heed to the reduced time span of associated torture.
When it came to crimes of witchcraft or heresy, burning was the most common form of execution.
The culprit was tied to a stake and burnt alive publicly in order to re-enforce the dire consequences attached to the felony.
People accused of witchcraft were also subjected to drowning at times.
This was conducted with the view that if the body of the offender floated, it would stamp his or her accusation, while drowning would prove the person non-guilty.
The women were mainly executed by drowning.
They were granted this form of punishment as a privilege since this type of execution was considered less cruel.
Strangulation was another method of capital punishment conducted for women instead of hanging.
The method of crucification was undoubtedly the most painful but it had a certain dignity associated to it in the memory of Jesus.
Extremely severe criminals penalized with murder were executed through quartering by horses.
Imparting death through the wheel was also common in those times.
Stoning was mainly carried out in the Islamic part of the world, the main crime for its attribution being infidelity.
Of all the form of execution, impalement was the most gruesome as it involved stabbing a stake into the private parts of the culprit and taking it out from the other end of the body.
The list of the ways of administering capital punishment is horrifying.
However, it took many years for people to understand that such forms of punishment only put an end to the criminal not the crime.
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