Inside Look: Hanging

Hanging is a method of executing condemned person’s used in most of the countries of North Americaand Europe. The condemned person stands on a platform. A noose of rope is placed around his neck, with the knot behind his ear or under his chin. When the platform drops, the person falls 6-8 feet before the rope becomes tight and fractures or dislocates the upper bones of his spinal column. This rupture of the spinal column breaks or badly bruises the spinal cord, and brings almost immediate death.

A 6 foot fall is considered a long drop. A short drop usually will not break the neck cleanly. Persons who commit suicide by hanging usually drop only a short distance and die from suffocation and from the fact that blood cannot reach their brains. In the United States, hanging is one method of execution that is considered in Alaska, Delaware, Hawaii, Idaho, Iowa, Kansas, Montana, New Hampshire, Utah, and Washington. Hanging is also the legal form of execution in the Panama Canal Zone and the Virgin Islands. Other states use electrocution, Lethal Injection, gas, or shooting.