This is alist of methods ofcapital punishment, also known as execution.
These well-known and notable methods of capital punishment are currently legal in at least one country.
| Method | Description |
|---|---|
| Hanging | One of the three most prevalent methods, in use in most countries still retaining capital punishment, usually with a calculated drop to cause neck fracture and instant loss of consciousness. Used byAfghanistan,Bahamas,Bangladesh,Botswana,Egypt,Gaza Strip,India,Iran,Iraq,Israel,Japan,Jordan,Kuwait,Lebanon,Liberia,Malaysia,Myanmar,Oman,Pakistan,Saint Kitts and Nevis,Singapore,South Sudan,Sudan, andSyria.
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| Shooting | The other most prevalent method. Can be applied:
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| Lethal injection | First used in the United States in 1982, lethal injection has since been adopted by China,Guatemala,Maldives, Nigeria, Taiwan, Thailand, andVietnam. |
| Electrocution | Only ever used by the United States andPhilippines. Only South Carolina has it as the primary method. Now only legal in Alabama, Arkansas, Florida, Kentucky, Louisiana, Mississippi, Oklahoma, and Tennessee as a secondary method. |
| Nitrogen hypoxia | Only ever used by the United States, first in 2024, nitrogen hypoxia has since been adopted by Alabama, Arkansas, Louisiana, Mississippi, and Oklahoma as a secondary method. |
| Gas chamber | Only ever used by the United States andLithuania. Now only legal in Arizona, California, Missouri, and Wyoming as a secondary method. |
| Decapitation | Used at various points in history in many countries. One of the most famous methods was theguillotine. Now only used in Saudi Arabia with a sword. |
| Stoning | The victim is battered by stones thrown by a group of people, with the injuries leading to death. It is legal in Afghanistan, Brunei, Iran,Mauritania, Northern Nigeria, Saudi Arabia, Sudan, and Yemen. |
Many historically recorded methods of execution includetorture, often intending to make a spectacle of pain and suffering with overtones ofsadism, cruelty, intimidation, anddehumanisation, at times aimed at attempting to deter the commission of offences. Some of these methods may still be in practice byterrorist groups.
| Method | Description |
|---|---|
| Animals |
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| Asphyxia |
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| Back-breaking | A Mongolian method of execution that avoided the spilling of blood on the ground[3] (example: the Mongolian leaderJamukha was probably executed this way in 1206).[4] |
| Blowing from a gun | Tying to the mouth of a cannon, which is then fired. |
| Blood eagle | Cutting the skin of the victim by the spine, breaking the ribs so they resembled blood-stained wings, and pulling the lungs out through the wounds in the victim's back. Possibly used by theVikings (of disputed historicity). |
| Boiling | Carried out using a large cauldron filled with water, oil, tar, tallow, or even molten lead. |
| Breaking wheel | Also known as the Catherine wheel, afterCatherine of Alexandria who was executed by this method. |
| Burning |
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| Crushing | By a weight, abruptly or as a slow ordeal.Giles Corey and John Darren Caymo were killed this way. |
| Dismemberment | Used as punishment forhigh treason in theAncien régime; also used by several others countries at various points in history. |
| Drowning | Execution by drowning is attested very early in history, by a large variety of cultures, and as the method of execution for many different offences. |
| Exposure (starvation,dehydration,hypothermia, etc.) |
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| Falling | The victim is thrown off a height or into a hollow (example: theBarathron in Athens, into which the Athenian generals condemned for their part in thebattle of Arginusae were cast).[7] In Argentina during theDirty War, thosesecretly abducted were later drugged andthrown from an airplane into the ocean. |
| Flaying | The removal of the entire skin. |
| Hanging, drawing, and quartering | English torturous method of execution forhigh treason. The convicted was fastened by the feet to a hurdle, or wooden panel, and drawn behind a horse to the place of execution, where they were then hanged (almost to the point of death),emasculated, disembowelled, beheaded, and quartered. |
| Impalement | The penetration of the body by an object such as a stake, pole, spear, or hook, often by complete or partial perforation of the torso. |
| Keelhauling | European maritime punishment of dragging the victim against the barnacles on a ship (not usually intended to be lethal). |
| Mazzatello | Italian method of execution by inflicting head trauma usingclub or other blunt weapons. |
| Poisoning | Before modern times, sayak (사약, 賜藥) was the method used for nobles (yangban) and royals during theJoseon Dynasty inKorea due to theConfucianist belief that one may kill aseonbi but may not insult him (사가살불가욕, 士可殺不可辱). Poisoning by drinking an infusion ofhemlock was used as a method of execution in Ancient Greece (e.g., thedeath of Socrates). |
| Sawing | Practiced by sawing or cutting a victim in half, either sagittally (usually midsagittally), or transversely. |
| Scaphism | An AncientPersian method of execution in which the condemned was placed in between two boats, force-fed a mixture of milk and honey, and left floating in a stagnant pond. The victim would then suffer from severe diarrhoea, which would attract insects that would burrow and nest in the victim, eventually causing death fromsepsis. Of disputed historicity. |
| Seppuku | Specifically the version practiced as capital punishment, exclusively against disgraced samurai who refused to commit suicide after being convicted. The condemned would simulate a cutting motion with a wooden replica of aTantō dagger or a fan, and thekaishakunin would then behead them, effectively acting as the executioner. |
| Slow slicing | The methodical removal of portions of the body over an extended period of time, usually with a knife, eventually resulting in death. Sometimes known as "death by a thousand cuts". |
| Waist chop | A large blade affixed by a hinge to a board (resembling a largepaper cutter) was aligned with the waist of the condemned; the knife was brought down, resulting in ahemicorporectomy. The condemned would typically die slowly of blood loss. Used in China up until the reign of theYongzheng Emperor in the 18th century. |