There has been a push by Indiana legislators to rework and add alternative methods to the carrying out of executions in Indiana. House Bill 1119, authored by Rep. Jim Lucas,
Trigger warning: this is about to get fairly gruesome; I’ll be going in depth on botched hangings.
But short answer: 100%. Hanging can be botched in a variety of ways. More detailed explanation below.
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The ways that it can go wrong tend to be fairly unpleasant as well. The ideal is that you get the perfect height relative to your weight that it breaks your neck, but if that gets messed up, you’re likely going to end up slowly suffocating instead (too short a drop) or having your head literally pulled straight from your body (too long a drop). There are (potentially apocryphal) accounts of people being hanged who weren’t actually heavy enough for it to effectively suffocate them or break the neck, so others would have to get involved and literally grab them by the legs to pull them down to add more weight. If the noose isn’t tight enough, it could come loose and wrap partially around the face instead, leading to a slow strangulation and/or severe lacerations. Skin can be fully or partially degloved as a consequence as well.
All in all, if we’re going for classic execution methods, I’m personally going guillotine.
Is firing squad better than hanging?
My understanding was a well planned hanging is relatively quick and efficient.
Also, ever since I learned that firing squads mix in empty guns so the petite feel lies guilty I feel weird about it.
Trigger warning: this is about to get fairly gruesome; I’ll be going in depth on botched hangings.
But short answer: 100%. Hanging can be botched in a variety of ways. More detailed explanation below.
Tap for spoiler
The ways that it can go wrong tend to be fairly unpleasant as well. The ideal is that you get the perfect height relative to your weight that it breaks your neck, but if that gets messed up, you’re likely going to end up slowly suffocating instead (too short a drop) or having your head literally pulled straight from your body (too long a drop). There are (potentially apocryphal) accounts of people being hanged who weren’t actually heavy enough for it to effectively suffocate them or break the neck, so others would have to get involved and literally grab them by the legs to pull them down to add more weight. If the noose isn’t tight enough, it could come loose and wrap partially around the face instead, leading to a slow strangulation and/or severe lacerations. Skin can be fully or partially degloved as a consequence as well.
All in all, if we’re going for classic execution methods, I’m personally going guillotine.
I appreciate the detailed if morbid answer and agree with your conclusion