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Punishments

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Society

Capital punishment

Capital punishment, also known as the death penalty, is a government-sanctioned practice whereby a person is killed by the state as a punishment for a crime. The sentence that someone be punished in such a manner is referred to as a death sentence, whereas the act of carrying out the sentence is known as an execution. Crimes that are punishable by death are known as capital crimes or capital offences, and they commonly include offences such as murder, treason, espionage, war crimes, crimes against humanity and genocide. Etymologically, the term capital in this context alluded to execution by beheading.

Society

Lynching

Lynching is a premeditated extrajudicial killing by a group. It is most often used to characterize informal public executions by a mob in order to punish an alleged transgressor, convicted transgressor, or to intimidate a group. It can also be an extreme form of informal group social control, and it is often conducted with the display of a public spectacle for maximum intimidation. Instances of lynchings and similar mob violence can be found in every society.

Society

Blood eagle

The blood eagle is a ritualized method of execution, detailed in late skaldic poetry. According to the two instances mentioned in the Sagas, the victims were placed in a prone position, their ribs severed from the spine with a sharp tool, and their lungs pulled through the opening to create a pair of "wings". There is continuing debate about whether the ritual was a literary invention, a mistranslation of the original texts, or an authentic historical practice.

Society

Capital punishment in the United States

Capital punishment is a legal penalty in the United States, currently used by 31 states, the federal government, and the military. Its existence can be traced to the beginning of the American colonies. The United States is the only Western country currently applying the death penalty, one of 54 countries worldwide applying it, and was the first to develop lethal injection as a method of execution, which has since been adopted by five other countries.

Society, Health

Decapitation

Decapitation is the complete separation of the head from the body. Such an injury is fatal to humans and most animals, since it deprives all other organs of the involuntary functions that are needed for the body to function, while the brain is deprived of oxygenated blood and blood pressure.

Society

Tarring and feathering

Tarring and feathering is a form of public torture and humiliation used to enforce unofficial justice or revenge. It was used in feudal Europe and its colonies in the early modern period, as well as the early American frontier, mostly as a type of mob vengeance. Awareness of tarring and feathering in popular culture remains.

Society

Life imprisonment

Life imprisonment is any sentence of imprisonment for a crime under which convicted persons are to remain in prison either for the rest of their natural life or until paroled. Crimes for which, in some countries, a person could receive this sentence include murder, attempted murder, conspiracy to commit murder, blasphemy, apostasy, terrorism, severe child abuse, rape, child rape, espionage, treason, high treason, drug dealing, drug trafficking, drug possession, human trafficking, severe cases of fraud, severe cases of financial crimes, aggravated criminal damage in English law, and aggravated cases of arson, kidnapping, burglary, or robbery which result in death or grievous bodily harm, piracy, aircraft hijacking, and in certain cases genocide, ethnic cleansing, crimes against humanity, certain war crimes or any three felonies in case of three strikes law. Life imprisonment can also be imposed, in certain countries, for traffic offenses causing death. The life sentence does not exist in all countries, and Portugal was the first to abolish life imprisonment, in 1884.

Society

Capital punishment in California

Capital punishment is a legal penalty in the U.S. state of California.

Society

Crucifixion

Crucifixion is a method of capital punishment in which the victim is tied or nailed to a large wooden beam and left to hang for several days until eventual death from exhaustion and asphyxiation.

Society

Execution by firing squad

Execution by firing squad, in the past sometimes called fusillading, is a method of capital punishment, particularly common in the military and in times of war. Execution by shooting is a fairly old practice. Some reasons for its use are that firearms are usually readily available and a gunshot to a vital organ, such as brain or heart, usually kills relatively quickly.

Society

Breaking wheel

The breaking wheel or execution wheel, also known as the Catherine wheel or simply the Wheel, was a torture method used for public execution from antiquity through Middle Ages into early modern times by breaking a criminal's bones and/or bludgeoning them to death. As a form of agonizing execution and deterrence, it was used from the medieval period into the early modern period; the practice was completely abolished in Bavaria in 1813, in the Electorate of Hesse it was still in use until 1836. The last known execution by the "Wheel" took place in Prussia in 1841. In the Holy Roman Empire, it was a "mirror punishment" for highwaymen and street thieves but was already provisioned in the Sachsenspiegel also for murder and arson.

Society

Corporal punishment

Corporal punishment or physical punishment is a punishment intended to cause physical pain on a person. It is most often practiced on minors, especially in home and school settings. Common methods include spanking or paddling. It has also historically been used on adults, particularly on prisoners and enslaved persons. Other common methods include flagellation and caning.

Society

Capital punishment in India

Capital punishment is a legal penalty in India. It has been carried out in nine instances since 1995, while a total of thirty executions have taken place in India since 1991, the most recent of which were carried out in 2020.

Society

Scaphism

Scaphism, also known as the boats, was an ancient Persian method of execution reported in historical sources that was designed to cause a torturous death. The word comes from the Greek σκάφη, skáphe, meaning "anything scooped out". According to the sources, it entailed trapping the victim inside two boats, feeding and covering him with milk and honey, and allowing him to fester and be devoured by vermin.

Society

Execution of Saddam Hussein

The execution of Saddam Hussein took place on Saturday, 30 December 2006. Saddam was sentenced to death by hanging, after being convicted of crimes against humanity by the Iraqi Special Tribunal for the murder of 148 Iraqi Shi'ites in the town of Dujail in 1982, in retaliation for an assassination attempt against him.