Korean R, living in Japan, sentenced to death penalty by hanging for the murder and rape of two women. The film begins with the execution of a death sentence, but it is not crowned with success: somehow the person sentenced to death survives. Witnesses and executors of the sentence (the Prosecutor, his secretary, representatives of the prison administration, prison employees, a priest and a doctor - from now on I will simply call them “executioners”) begin a long debate about how to determine future fate surviving criminal. Everyone, of course, had different views on this matter. The situation was complicated by the fact that R, who woke up after hanging, completely lost his memory. As a result, the “executioners” came to the conclusion that it was necessary to first restore R’s memory and then hang him again
As you know, in Japan to this day the death penalty exists as the ultimate punishment for especially dangerous criminals. In this film, the director reflects on the topic of whether there is a line between legal execution, which is ordered by the people represented by the state, and illegal murder, which is committed by a criminal. Who should pay for this state-sanctioned murder? What about the possibility that the man who was just hanged did not actually kill anyone? In this case, should the state show the same remorse for the criminal act that a criminal must show before execution?
In addition to the controversial issue of the nature of the death penalty, the director touches on one very acute problem post-war Japanese society: the problem of discrimination Zainichi Koreans (???) ethnic group Koreans who immigrated to Japan before 1945 and subsequently became its citizens. Ostensibly restoring R’s memory, the “executioners,” whose idea of Koreans is built on stupid stereotypes, defined R’s childhood as poor and unhappy, because, in their opinion, his family probably had no money, and his father and brothers drank heavily. And in general, R simply had no chance of happy life, because he is Korean a representative of a “lower race”. The hatred with which the Japanese treat migrants reminds us of the relationship between those who condemn and those who are condemned. The “executioners” decide that R was driven to murder by his carnal desires, but by reenacting the moments of the murder, the “executioners” themselves reveal their true nature and their own dark fantasies. It turned out that representatives of the law were more obsessed with the ideas of crime than any other criminal. An absurd situation is created when potential criminals are given the power to bring justice to other criminals who have already committed an illegal act.
The unexpected appearance of sister R, who inspires her brother that he was an ardent nationalist, also makes sense to show a certain stereotype that Koreans, due to their own poverty and the anger that arises from this, have no choice but to take revenge on the Japanese (for example, rape and kill them women) and ruin their lives in every possible way.
By criticizing the socio-economic and socio-cultural barriers between people of different nationalities, the director condemns the stupid prejudices that arise in society.
Thus, the director created the greatest picture, which can be characterized as a vicious satire about a society that, without noticing it, creates a favorable atmosphere for crime to flourish, and in some situations itself becomes a murderer, without thinking about the criminality of its own actions.
The most popular types of execution in the Middle Ages were beheading and hanging. Moreover, they were applied to people of different classes. Beheading was used as a punishment for noble people, and the gallows was the lot of the rootless poor. So why did the aristocracy beheaded and the common people hanged?
Beheading is for kings and nobles
This type of death penalty has been used everywhere for many millennia. IN medieval Europe such punishment was considered “noble” or “honorable.” Mostly aristocrats were beheaded. When a representative of a noble family laid his head on the block, he showed humility.
Beheading with a sword, ax or ax was considered the least painful death. A quick death made it possible to avoid public agony, which was important for representatives of noble families. The crowd, hungry for spectacle, should not have seen the low dying manifestations.
It was also believed that aristocrats, being brave and selfless warriors, were prepared specifically for death from knives.
Much in this matter depended on the skills of the executioner. Therefore, often the convict himself or his relatives paid a lot of money so that he could do his job in one blow.
Decapitation leads to instant death, which means it saves you from frantic torment. The sentence was carried out quickly. The condemned man laid his head on a log, which was supposed to be no more than six inches thick. This greatly simplified the execution.
The aristocratic connotation of this type of punishment was also reflected in books dedicated to the Middle Ages, thereby perpetuating its selectivity. In the book “The History of a Master” (author Kirill Sinelnikov) there is a quote: “... a noble execution - cutting off the head. This is not a hanging, an execution of the mob. Beheading is for kings and nobles."
Hanging
While nobles were sentenced to beheadings, commoner criminals ended up on the gallows.
Hanging is the most common execution in the world. This type of punishment has been considered shameful since ancient times. And there are several explanations for this. Firstly, it was believed that when hanging, the soul cannot leave the body, as if remaining hostage to it. Such dead people were called “hostages.”
Secondly, dying on the gallows was painful and painful. Death does not occur instantly; a person experiences physical suffering and remains conscious for several seconds, fully aware of the approaching end. All his torment and manifestations of agony are observed by hundreds of onlookers. In 90% of cases, at the moment of suffocation, all the muscles of the body relax, which leads to complete emptying of the intestines and bladder.
For many peoples, hanging was considered an unclean death. No one wanted his body dangling in plain sight after the execution. Violation by public display is a mandatory part of this type of punishment. Many believed that such a death was the worst thing that could happen, and it was reserved only for traitors. People remembered Judas, who hanged himself on an aspen tree.
A person sentenced to the gallows had to have three ropes: the first two, pinkie-thick (tortuza), were equipped with a loop and were intended for direct strangulation. The third was called a “token” or “throw” - it served to throw a person sentenced to the gallows. The execution was completed by the executioner, holding onto the crossbars of the gallows and kneeling the condemned man in the stomach.
Exceptions to the rules
Despite the clear distinction between belonging to one class or another, there were exceptions to the established rules. For example, if a noble nobleman raped a girl whom he was entrusted with guardianship, then he was deprived of his nobility and all the privileges associated with the title. If during detention he resisted, then the gallows awaited him.
Among the military, deserters and traitors were sentenced to hanging. For officers, such a death was so humiliating that they often committed suicide without waiting for the execution of the sentence imposed by the court.
The exception was cases of high treason, in which the nobleman was deprived of all privileges and could be executed as a commoner.
The first mention of this type of death penalty, hanging, dates back to the era of antiquity. Thus, as a result of the conspiracy of Catiline (60s BC), five rebels were sentenced to death by hanging by the Roman Senate. This is how the Roman historian Sallust describes their execution:
“There is in the prison, to the left and slightly below the entrance, a room called Tullian’s dungeon; it extends into the ground about twelve feet and is fortified with walls everywhere, and covered with a stone vault on top; dirt, darkness and stench create a vile and terrible impression. It was there that Lentulus was lowered, and the executioners, executing the order, strangled him, throwing a noose around his neck... Cethegus, Statilius, Gabinius, Ceparius were executed in the same way.”
However, the era Ancient Rome has long passed, and hanging, as statistics show, despite all its apparent cruelty, is the most popular method of death penalty at the present time. This type there are two executions possible types fatal outcome: death from rupture spinal cord and death due to asphyxia. Let us consider how dying occurs in each of these cases.
Death from spinal injury
If the calculation was made correctly, the fall will result in severe damage. cervical spine spine, as well as upper sections spinal cord and brain stem. Hanging with a long fall in the vast majority of cases is accompanied by the instant death of the victim due to decapitation.
Death from mechanical asphyxia
If, during the fall of the convict's body, there is no displacement of the vertebrae sufficient to rupture the spinal cord, death occurs from slow suffocation (asphyxia) and can last from three to four to seven to eight minutes (for comparison, death from decapitation with a guillotine occurs usually seven to ten seconds after the head is separated from the body).
The process of dying by hanging can be divided into four stages:
- 1. The victim’s consciousness is preserved, deep and rapid breathing with direct participation of auxiliary muscles in breathing, cyanosis (cyanosis) quickly appears skin. The heart rate increases and blood pressure rises.
- 2. Consciousness is lost, convulsions appear, involuntary urination and defecation are possible, breathing becomes rare.
- 3. Terminal stage, which lasts from a few seconds to two to three minutes. Respiratory arrest and cardiac depression occur.
- 4. Agonal state. Following the cessation of breathing, cardiac arrest occurs.
It is worth noting that in the second case the dying process itself lasts longer and is much more painful. Thus, by setting the goal of humanizing the death penalty by hanging, we automatically set the goal of minimizing the number of situations when a convicted person dies from strangulation.
Here are three main ways of placing a noose around the neck: a) - typical (mainly used in the death penalty), b) and c) - atypical.
Practice shows that if the knot is located on the side of the left ear (a typical way of placing a loop), then during the fall the rope throws the head back. This produces enough energy to break the spine.
However, it is not only the danger of incorrect placement of the knot on the neck that awaits the convicted person. The most important and difficult problem when hanging is choosing the length of the rope. Moreover, its length depends more on the weight of the executed person than on his height.
It must be remembered that the hemp rope used in carrying out this type of death penalty is far from the most durable material and tends to break at the most inopportune moment. This is exactly the incident that happened, for example, on July 13 (25), 1826 Senate Square. Here's how an eyewitness describes the event:
“When everything was ready, with the spring in the scaffold squeezing, the platform on which they stood on the benches fell, and at the same instant three fell - Ryleev, Pestel and Kakhovsky fell down. Ryleev’s cap fell off, and a bloody eyebrow and blood behind his right ear were visible, probably from a bruise. He sat crouched because he had fallen inside the scaffold. I approached him, he said: “What a misfortune!” The Governor-General, seeing that three had fallen, sent adjutant Bashutsky to take other ropes and hang them, which was immediately done. I was so busy with Ryleev that I didn’t pay attention to the others who fell from the gallows and didn’t hear if they said anything. When the board was raised again, Pestel’s rope was so long that he could reach the platform with his toes, which was supposed to prolong his torment, and it was noticeable for some time that he was still alive.”
In order to avoid such trouble during an execution (since it could spoil the image of the executioner by demonstrating his inability to handle the execution instrument), in England, and then in other countries that practiced hanging, it was customary to stretch the rope on the eve of the execution in order to make it more elastic.
In order to calculate the optimal length of the rope, we analyzed the so-called “official fall table” - a reference publication by the UK Home Office on the optimal height from which the body of a person sentenced to death should fall when hanging. In order to then calculate the most suitable length of rope, it was only necessary to add the “fall height” to the height of the bar or hook to which the rope was attached.
|
Fall height in meters |
Weight of the convicted person (with clothes) in kg |
Ratio |
The resulting table allows you to calculate the optimal rope length for a convicted person of any weight. In this case, it is only worth remembering that there is an inverse relationship between the weight of the executed person and the height of the fall (the greater the weight, the shorter the length of the rope).
Back in the 19th and early 20th centuries, execution was considered a preferable punishment compared to prison because being in prison was a slow death. The stay in prison was paid for by relatives, and they themselves often asked that the culprit be killed.
Convicts were not kept in prisons - it was too expensive. If relatives had money, they could take their loved one for support (usually he sat in an earthen pit). But a tiny part of society was able to afford it.
Therefore, the main method of punishment for minor crimes (theft, insulting an official, etc.) was the stocks. The most common type of last is “kanga” (or “jia”). It was used very widely, since it did not require the state to build a prison, and also prevented escape.
Sometimes, in order to further reduce the cost of punishment, several prisoners were chained in this neck block. But even in this case, relatives or compassionate people had to feed the criminal.
Each judge considered it his duty to invent his own reprisals against criminals and prisoners. The most common were: sawing off the foot (first they sawed off one foot, the second time the repeat offender caught the other), removal kneecaps, nose cutting, ear cutting, branding.
In an effort to make the punishment more severe, the judges came up with an execution called “carry out five types of punishment.” The criminal should have been branded, his arms or legs cut off, beaten to death with sticks, and his head put on display in the market for everyone to see.
In Chinese tradition, beheading was considered a more severe form of execution than strangulation, despite the prolonged torment inherent in strangulation.
The Chinese believed that the human body is a gift from his parents, and therefore returning a dismembered body into oblivion is extremely disrespectful to the ancestors. Therefore, at the request of relatives, and more often for a bribe, other types of executions were used.
Removal. The criminal was tied to a pole, a rope was wrapped around his neck, the ends of which were in the hands of the executioners. They slowly twist the rope with special sticks, gradually strangling the convict.
The strangulation could last a very long time, since the executioners at times loosened the rope and allowed the almost strangled victim to take several convulsive breaths, and then tightened the noose again.
"Cage", or "standing stocks" (Li-chia) - the device for this execution is a neck block, which was fixed on top of bamboo or wooden poles tied into a cage, at a height of approximately 2 meters. The convicted person was placed in a cage, and bricks or tiles were placed under his feet, and then they were slowly removed.
The executioner removed the bricks, and the man hung with his neck pinched by the block, which began to choke him, this could continue for months until all the stands were removed.
Lin-Chi - "death by a thousand cuts" or "sea pike bites" - the most terrible execution by cutting small pieces from the victim's body over a long period of time.
Such execution followed for high treason and parricide. Ling-chi for the purpose of intimidation was carried out in in public places with a large crowd of onlookers.
For capital crimes and other serious offenses, there were 6 classes of punishment. The first was called lin-chi. This punishment was applied to traitors, parricides, murderers of brothers, husbands, uncles and mentors.
The criminal was tied to a cross and cut into either 120, or 72, or 36, or 24 pieces. In the presence of extenuating circumstances, his body was cut into only 8 pieces as a sign of imperial favor.
The criminal was cut into 24 pieces as follows: eyebrows were cut off with 1 and 2 blows; 3 and 4 - shoulders; 5 and 6 - mammary glands; 7 and 8 - arm muscles between the hand and elbow; 9 and 10 - arm muscles between the elbow and shoulder; 11 and 12 - flesh from the thighs; 13 and 14 - calves; 15 - a blow pierced the heart; 16 - the head was cut off; 17 and 18 - hands; 19 and 20 - the remaining parts of the hands; 21 and 22 - feet; 23 and 24 - legs. They cut it into 8 pieces like this: cut off the eyebrows with 1 and 2 blows; 3 and 4 - shoulders; 5 and 6 - mammary glands; 7 - pierced the heart with a blow; 8 - the head was cut off.
But there was a way to avoid these monstrous types of execution - for a large bribe. For a very large bribe, the jailer could give a criminal awaiting death in an earthen pit a knife or even poison. But it is clear that few could afford such expenses.
Due to irreversible damage to the cerebral cortex. Cardiac activity continues for some time after breathing has stopped. Since the second half of the 19th century, in many countries, the death penalty has used a type of hanging, in which the body of the convicted person is not simply deprived of support and hangs on a rope, but falls from a great height (several meters) through a hatch. In this case, death occurs not from asphyxia in a few minutes, but from rupture of the cervical vertebrae and spinal cord almost instantly. With such a hanging, it is necessary to calculate the length of the rope depending on the weight of the condemned person so that the head does not separate from the body (in the UK there was an “official table of falls” (Eng. Official Table of Drops) for rope length calculations). The separation of the head from the body took place, in particular, during the execution of Barzan Ibrahim al-Tikriti.
Story
Murder by hanging was first used by the ancient Celts, making human sacrifices to the air god Esus. Cervantes (17th century) mentions execution by hanging.
In Russia, hanging was practiced during the imperial period (for example, the execution of the Decembrists, “Stolypin ties”, etc.) and by warring parties during the civil war.
Later hanging was practiced in a short period of wartime and the first post-war years in relation to war criminals and persons collaborating with the Nazis (in particular, generals Vlasov, Krasnov, Shkuro, Colonel Girey-Sultan Klych, Ataman Semyonov, defendants in the Krasnodar trial, etc. were executed by hanging .) - see Decree “On punitive measures for German fascist villains...”. At the Nuremberg trials, 12 senior leaders of the Third Reich were sentenced to death by hanging.
In the occupied territories, execution by hanging was practiced by the German authorities against partisans and underground fighters. In Japan, the Soviet intelligence officer Richard Sorge was hanged.
In some countries of central Europe (Germany, Austria, Switzerland and some others) in the Middle Ages and Modern times, the place for hanging was called Galgenberg (Galgenhügel, Galgenbühl).
Sometimes the expression “Stolypin tie” is used as a synonym for the death penalty by hanging (statement by the deputy of the 2nd State Duma from the party of constitutional democrats F.I. Rodichev The reason for it was a report presented to the Duma by the Chairman of the Council of Ministers Russian Empire Pyotr Stolypin).
Currently, hanging is used as the only or one of several types of death penalty provided for by law in a number of countries, including Japan, Iran, Iraq, Afghanistan, both Koreas, and the USA.
Hanging in forensics
According to the method of application, loops with single, double and multiple turns are distinguished; in turn, multi-turn loops can have parallel, touching and intersecting turns. Often, materials that are at hand are used for strangulation, for example, parts of a toilet, or objects to which the deceased had access due to his profession: bandages, electrical wire, waist belts, scarves, stockings. The direction of tension can be determined by the direction of the fibers of the rope - in particular, if the tension occurred in the direction opposite to the gravity of the body, this leads to the conclusion that a murder took place. It is also necessary to pay attention to the node - it can indicate a person’s professional skills and sometimes serves as a determining factor in the investigation.
The main sign of hanging is a strangulation groove, which is an imprint of a noose on the neck and often repeats the structure of the material from which the noose was made. When hanging, as a rule, the strangulation groove is not closed, since the ends of the loop rise towards the knot when tensioned. By appearance the grooves are distinguished: pale, when the material of the loop was soft and the impact of the loop on the neck was short-lived; and brown ones, when the noose was tight, and man for a long time was in a loop.
Rescue of the Hanged
It is quite difficult to save a hanged man. This can only be done if cervical vertebrae Dont Have serious damage, and if no more than 3-4 minutes have passed since the hanging (it is extremely rare to find cases of saving a hanged person half an hour after hanging).
First you need to quickly remove the hanged man from the noose. As a rule, it is extremely difficult, and sometimes almost impossible, to break a loop with bare hands, so the loop is usually cut. In everyday life (when attempting suicide), they take a sharp knife, slightly lift the hanged man by the collar or hair and quickly cut the noose, pointing the blade of the knife away from the hanged man’s head. The hanged man is then lifted up so that when he falls he does not hit his head on the floor.
Having taken the hanged man out of the noose and laid him on the floor, determine the presence of a pulse and breathing. If not too much time has passed since the hanging, then the hanged person will most likely retain breathing and cardiac activity. In this case, they simply press him to the floor and wait for the cramps to pass (this should happen on their own in a few minutes).
If a lot of time has passed since the hanging, and the victim has no breathing or heartbeat, begin cardiopulmonary resuscitation, but do not tilt the head of the hanged person, fearing damage to the cervical vertebrae.
IN mandatory Every person who survives hanging must be taken to a hospital, since hanging always poses a high risk of adverse complications.
Notes
see also
Links
- Text of standard instructions for organizing hanging, developed by the Department of Corrections of the US State of Delaware (English)
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Synonyms:See what “Hanging” is in other dictionaries:
Execution, self-hanging, tie, gallows, noose Dictionary of Russian synonyms. hanging gallows; loop (unfolded); tie (obsolete ironic) Dictionary of synonyms of the Russian language. Practical guide. M.: Russian language. Z. E. Alexandrova. 2011… Synonym dictionary
HANGING, hangings, many. no, cf. (book). Action under Ch. hang (see hang in 2 meanings. Death penalty by hanging. Dictionary Ushakova. D.N. Ushakov. 1935 1940 ... Ushakov's Explanatory Dictionary
1) one of the qualified methods of death penalty. In Russia, it was for the first time legislatively provided for in Cathedral Code 1649 Considered a dishonorable punishment. P. was also used as a means of mass intimidation, since the bodies of those hanged... ... Legal Dictionary
See hang 1. Ozhegov's Explanatory Dictionary. S.I. Ozhegov, N.Yu. Shvedova. 1949 1992 … Ozhegov's Explanatory Dictionary
HANGING- HANGING, compression of the neck with a noose tightened by the weight of the body. This type of violent death, excluding the death penalty through P., in the vast majority of cases occurs as suicide and very rarely as an accident; sometimes P... ... Great Medical Encyclopedia
Hanging- (eng. death by handing) in forensic medicine, a type of mechanical asphyxia that occurs from compression of the neck with a noose tightened under the influence of gravity own body or parts thereof. Material and design features loops affect... ... Encyclopedia of Law
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