CRM/LAW C165 Lecture Notes - Lecture 24: Rainey Bethea, William Kemmler, Ruth Snyder
13 Jun 2018
School
Department
Course
Professor
History of Execution Methods
• modern execution methods
o lethal injection
o electrocution
o gas chamber
o firing squad (NV until 1921 & UT only)
o hanging
o guillotine (France)
• history
o medieval/early modern
▪ exquisite tortures
▪ slow, painful death
• burning
• gibbeting – corpse hung in cage in public
• dismemberment
• disembowelment
• dissection
o public festivals
▪ moral lessons
▪ revenge of the public
o guillotine was scientific advance
• U.S. history
o executions were public
▪ people brought picnics, children
• moral lessons
• deterrence
▪ pamphlets, programs, souvenirs
o Rainey Bethea
▪ last public execution in US, KY – 1936
▪ 20,000 people
o lynching
▪ same purposes, but also maintenance of racial hegemony
▪ souvenirs
▪ advertisements
▪ postcards
o from public to private
▪ photos of electrocution banned
▪ Ruth Snyder, NY -1928
▪ hidden camera
• problems with hanging
o instantly fracture vertebrae and sever spinal cord?
o or slow strangulation?
o long-drop vs. short drop
o placement of knot?
• humane alternatives
o guillotine – mutilation
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