In cases of hanging, the exact mechanism leading to death has yet to be elucidated. Most of our contemporary knowledge is still based on writings from the end of the 19th and the beginning of the 20th century. This article reviews the historic experiments that shaped our current theories. Medico-legal textbooks written in English and French from 1870 to 1930 were reviewed. Various animals, such as rabbits, mice, and dogs, have been used to develop animal models of hanging. Limited human studies on cadavers and judicial hangings have provided some additional insight into the pathophysiology of death by hanging. The main pathophysiological theories described were respiratory asphyxia, interruption to cerebral blood flow because of occlusion of vessels in the neck, and cardiac inhibition secondary to nerve stimulation. The relative contributions of each of these theories to death in cases of hanging is still debated today.
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http://dx.doi.org/10.1111/j.1556-4029.2010.01435.x | DOI Listing |
Omega (Westport)
January 2025
School of Law, Fu Jen Catholic University, New Taipei City, Taiwan.
This article investigates the evolution of capital executions in modern Japan, focusing primarily on two major aspects: the reform of execution methods to reduce physical suffering, and the implementation of measures to preserve the confidentiality of executions. These aspects created a notable distance between public awareness and the realities of death penalty, particularly regarding actual executions. Consequently, calls for abolition gradually shifted from concerns about the suffering of death-row inmates to societal issues and abstract theoretical considerations.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFForensic Sci Int
December 2024
Melbourne Dental School, Faculty of Medicine, Dentistry, and Health Sciences, The University of Melbourne, Australia; The Royal Dental Hospital of Melbourne, 720 Swanston Street, Carlton, VIC 3053, Australia.
Sexual child homicide is a very high impact event. We report an instance where an 11-year-old boy was noticed by his grandmother hanging from the silver wired drying line which they are using for hanging the clothes in the house. Examination of the crime scene, autopsy findings, toxicological and DNA analysis confirmed the manner of death as sexual child homicide in a chronically abused child.
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