List of methods of capital punishment

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This is a list of methods of capital punishment.

Method	Description
Animals	Tearing apart by horses (e.g., in medieval Europe, with four horses; or "quartering", with four horses, as in The Song of Roland and Child Owlet) Devouring by: animals such as dogs or wolves, as in Ancient Rome and the Biblical lion's den rodents, such as rats alligators or crocodiles insects, such as ants Stings from scorpions and bites by snakes, spiders, etc. Crushing by elephant [1] Snake pit
Boiling to death	This penalty was carried out using a large cauldron filled with water, oil, tar, tallow, or even molten lead.
Breaking Back	A Mongol method of execution which avoided the spilling of blood on the ground.[1]
Breaking wheel	also known as the Catherine wheel
Buried alive	Humans may be buried alive intentionally (as a form of torture, murder, or execution).
Burning	especially for religious heretics and witches on the stake
Crucifixion	by roping or nailing to a wooden cross or similar apparatus (such as a tree) and allowing to perish
Crushing	by a weight, abruptly or as a slow ordeal
Death flights	throwing someone off a plane or helicopter
Decapitation	also known as beheading (as by sword, axe, or guillotine)
Disembowelment
Dismemberment	Being drawn and quartered sometimes resulted in dismemberment.
Drawing and quartering
Drowning	ducking stool walking the plank cement shoes have allegedly been used by the Mafia
Electrocution	the electric chair
Explosives
Flaying	cutting off the skin
Garrote
Gassing	asphyxiation by gas in a sealed chamber
Guillotine
Hanging
Immurement	being left to die of starvation or dehydration
Impalement
Lethal injection
Marooning
Nitrogen asphyxiation	theoretically humane method
Poisoning
Sawing
Scaphism
Shooting	by firing squad by a single shot (such as the neck shot, often performed on a kneeling prisoner, as in China) by cannon (used by the British during the 1857 Indian Rebellion)
Slow slicing
Stabbing
Starvation / Dehydration	immurement
Stoning
Strangulation

[edit] References

[edit] External links

• Internationalist Review - article on the evolution of execution methods in the United States

• This Won’t Hurt a Bit: A Painlessly Short (and Incomplete) Evolution of Execution