Most people believe that humanity is human by nature. And that their moral value system is benign, which is good for all people. Yet if anyone breaks the peace and well being of this community, there is always punishment. You must know that very different and unusual punishments are given in many places all over the world.
These then define personal and social moral values. For example, slavery was accepted worldwide in ancient days. Slaves could be given any form of torture and capital punishment. Today, formal slavery has largely disappeared. The “slave” cannot be punished for being a slave. Moral values have changed.
These days, the field of criminal activities is as high as at any time in the past. Yet the punishment has been formalized to a great extent as punishment includes the death penalty. Now death usually occurs via lethal injection, on the grounds that justice is the least painful form of killing someone.
The person who is committed to death can be a relief to the moment and manner of actual death after humiliation and anxiety and anticipation for the moment of death. In the olden times, humiliation, torture, prolonging grief, and death violence were considered essential for the community to understand what the extent of victimization was and would lead to similar crime.
Such a deliberate drama of torture and humiliation was seen as more of an art than mindless violence. And the crowd that gathered to witness dramatic deaths appeared horrifying, as they watched in horror and fascination.
Some of the most unusual forms of punishment, usually until death, are:
- Stoning: This punishment is a type of torture, in which the person throwing the mortal stone cannot be identified. No one kills a person; Kills the whole community.
- Strappado: The accused is hit by the wrist, behind the head. This is guaranteed to cause an excruciating dislocation of the shoulders. If it does not weigh it can be added until the body breaks down.
- Gridiron: The accused is grilled or roasted. Some people were previously bathed in oil to ensure a more painful death.
- Boiling: This was a common method of execution from East Asia to England. The slander was stripped and then placed in a vat or vessel of boiling liquid, usually water, oil, or tar.
- Scaphism: The accused was trapped between two boats (or in a hollowed-out tree trunk) and forcefully milked and honey. The person will inevitably die of dehydration, exposure, bite wounds, or diarrhea.
Disagreement is the removal of any appendage such as hands, feet or hands. The versions dealing with death are said to dissolve limb by limb, slowly.
- Flaying: Instead of losing limbs, the skin was removed from one part of the body. Till then other accused continued to die of pain.
- Being tied to the mouth of a cannon: Here the accused was literally tied to the mouth of the cannon, which was fired only after a great deal of drama. This immediately ended the misery of the accused as their bodies were blown to pieces.
These unusually cruel modes of punishment , usually ending in death, do not cover painful punishment that does not usually lead to death. These include:
- Flogging: An accused is beaten with a whip or pole. The number of whip injuries and the nature of the pain determined how much the pain increased;
- Caning: When a person is beaten with a sharp wooden cane. Striking with cane can be extremely painful because they were intended to break the skin and sometimes bones.
There are other common and formal methods of capital punishment. These included too many plays but the ending too quickly, without any trouble. These include hanging and bahidding.
