Mutilation ormaiming (from theLatin:mutilus) issevere damage to the body that has a subsequent harmful effect on an individual'squality of life.[1]
In themodern era, the term has an overwhelmingly negativeconnotation,[1][2] referring to alterations that render something inferior, dysfunctional, imperfect, or ugly.[3][4]
In 2019,Michael H. Stone, Gary Brucato, andAnn Burgess proposed formal criteria by which "mutilation" might be systematically distinguished from the act of "dismemberment", as these terms are commonly used interchangeably. They suggested that dismemberment involves "the entire removal, by any means, of a large section of the body of a living or dead person, specifically, the head (also termed decapitation), arms, hands, torso, pelvic area, legs, or feet". Mutilation, by contrast, involves "the removal or irreparable disfigurement, by any means, of some smaller portion of one of those larger sections of a living or dead person. The latter would includecastration (removal of thetesticles),evisceration (removal of theinternal organs), andflaying (removal of theskin).
According to these parameters, removing a whole hand would constitute dismemberment, while removing or damaging a finger would be mutilation; decapitation of a full head would be dismemberment, while removing or damaging a part of the face would be mutilation; and removing a whole torso would be dismemberment, while removing or damaging a breast or the organs contained within the torso would be mutilation.[5]
Some ethnic groups practice ritual mutilation, for example,burning,clitoridectomy, orflagellation, sometimes as part of arite of passage. In some cases, the term may even apply to treatment of dead bodies, as in the case ofscalping, when a person is mutilated after they have been killed by an enemy.Castration is also a form of mutilation. The traditional Chinese practice offoot binding is a form of mutilation. Another form of mutilation that has captured the imagination of Westerners is the "long-neck" people, a sub-group of theKaren known as thePadaung where women wear brass rings around their necks to artificially make them longer.[6]
A joint statement released by theUnited Nations and numerous other international bodies opposesfemale genital mutilation.[7]
Maiming, or mutilation which involves the loss of, or incapacity to use, a bodily member, is and has been practiced by many societies with various cultural and religious significance, and is also a customary form ofphysical punishment, especially applied on the principle of aneye for an eye.
Historical examples are plenty; Chinese generalSun Bin had his kneecaps removed after being framed for treason during theWarring States period, whileAraucanian warriorGalvarino had his handsamputated as punishment while as a prisoner during the Spanishconquest of Chile.
Maiming has often been a criminal offense; the old law term for a special case of maiming of persons wasmayhem, anAnglo-French variant form of the word.
Maiming of animals by others than their owners is a particular form of the offense generally grouped as malicious damage. For the purpose of the law as to this offense animals are divided into cattle, which includes pigs andequids, and other animals which are either subjects of larceny at commonlaw or are usually kept in confinement or for domestic purposes.
In Britain under theMalicious Damage Act 1861 the punishment for maiming of cattle was three to fourteen years' penal servitude; malicious injury to other animals was a misdemeanor punishable on summary conviction. For a second offense the penalty was imprisonment with hard labor for over twelve months. Today maiming of animals falls under the Cruelty to Animals Acts, while maiming by others is additionally treated ascriminal damage.
In times when even judicialphysical punishment was still commonly allowed to cause not only intense pain andpublic humiliation during the administration but also to inflict permanent physical damage, or even deliberately intended to mark the criminal for life bycropping orbranding, one of the common anatomical target areas not normally under permanent cover of clothing (so particularly merciless in the long term) were the ear(s).
In England, for example, various pamphleteers attacking the religious views of the Anglican episcopacy underWilliam Laud, theArchbishop of Canterbury, had their ears cut off for those writings: in 1630Alexander Leighton and in 1637 still otherPuritans,John Bastwick,Henry Burton, andWilliam Prynne.
In Scotland one of theCovenanters, James Gavin ofDouglas, Lanarkshire, had his ears cut off for refusing to renounce his religious faith. In Japan,Gonsalo Garcia and his companions were similarly punished.
Notably in various jurisdictions of theThirteen Colonies, even relatively minor crimes, such as hog stealing, were punishable by having one's ears nailed to thepillory and slit loose, or evencropped, acounterfeiter would be branded on top (for that crime, consideredlèse-majesté, the oldermirror punishment was boiling in oil), which was an example of western mutilation.[8]
Independence did not render American justice any less brutal. For example, in theSouthwest Territory (what would become the state of Tennessee), an example of harsh 'frontier law' under the 1780Cumberland Compact took place in 1793 when JudgeJohn McNairy sentenced Nashville's first horse thief, John McKain Jr., to be fastened to a wooden stock for one hour, given 39 lashes, have his ears severed, and cheeksbranded with the letters "H" and "T".
Nebahne Yohannes, an unsuccessful claimant to theEthiopian imperial throne, had his ears and nose severed before he was freed. This form of mutilation against unsuccessful claimants to thrones has been in use in thegreater Middle East for thousands of years. To qualify as a king, formerly, one had to exemplify perfection. Obvious physical deformities such as missing noses, ears, or lips, are thereby sufficient disqualifications. The victim in these cases is typically freed alive to act as an example to others, and as no longer a threat.
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