Rulers have always devised numerous gruesome ways to do away with prisoners: boiling them in oil, throwing them in snake pits, dragging them under boats, flaying them, poisoning them, burying them alive, drawing and quartering them, and on and on. But today, governments tend to be more civilized--or at least less creative--in the way they deal out death against their own people.
The eight execution methods discussed here are those most widely practiced in an official capacity in the modern world. But it's worth mentioning that governments (including, at times, our own) have been known to kill prisoners through other, less "official" means--ranging from gunshots (no questions asked) to chemical weapons (as Saddam Hussein authorized against thousands of Iraqi Kurds during the Anfal Campaign of 1988) to starvation (the primary means by which the North Korean government manages to kill so many prisoners without handing out more formal death sentences).
The eight execution methods discussed here are those most widely practiced in an official capacity in the modern world. But it's worth mentioning that governments (including, at times, our own) have been known to kill prisoners through other, less "official" means--ranging from gunshots (no questions asked) to chemical weapons (as Saddam Hussein authorized against thousands of Iraqi Kurds during the Anfal Campaign of 1988) to starvation (the primary means by which the North Korean government manages to kill so many prisoners without handing out more formal death sentences).
Images 1-8 of 8
- Lethal InjectionA lethal injection gurney. The straps hold the prisoner down during the injection.
- Gas Chamber ExecutionsThe infamous lime green gas chamber at San Quentin in California.
- The Electric Chair"Old Sparky"
- Execution by Firing SquadFiring Squad
- Death by HangingHanging of Ketchum
- Death by StoningStoning of St. Emerenziana
- Death by BeheadingExecution of King Louis XVI
- Death by CrucifixionBrueghel's "The Crucifixion"
- Graphic Index
- Text Index