Major Crimes and True Crime

How people on death row act on the day of their execution According to some Death Row people I have corresponded with, people are generally quiet and perhaps reflective on their final day. They know exactly how the day will end for them, and they know (in virtually every case) that there is no possibility of reprieve or postponement. They have had plenty of time to write final letters or notes or poems or anything else, so there is no hurried scribbling. There are no maudlin farewells and forgivenesses or confessions. No wailing or crying all day. No pronouncing curses, no swearing, no angry outbursts, no complaints about unfairness or innocence. Generally, no conversations except perhaps with a priest or other religious figure. While every person approaches his execution in his own way, people generally are stoic about it. Some read a Bible or other holy book. Some pray, generally silently. No one tries to be humorous or heroic or memorable. They just wait, patiently, for the end...

Death row inmate chooses to be executed by firing squad over the electric chair A man sentenced to death in South Carolina has chosen to be executed by firing squad rather than the electric chair, which would make him the first death row inmate to die by firing squad in the state. Richard Bernard Moore, 57, would also be the first person executed in South Carolina in more than a decade, as the state has struggled to procure the drugs required to perform lethal injection. Moore, who was sentenced to death for the 1999 murder of a convenience store clerk, is set to be executed on April 29. In a court filing Friday, Moore chose to die by firing squad but added in a statement he will not lose hope in two pending court challenges to the constitutionality of the state's death penalty methods. "I believe this election is forcing me to choose between two unconstitutional methods of execution, and I do not intend to waive any challenges to electrocution or firing squad by making a...

Reasons why the Germans Shoot Female Russian Soldiers on Sight Stories about military history often focus on battlefield tactics and strategy. When they do focus on people, it is usually on a male soldier. However, during WWII, the Germans often executed female soldiers on sight. This is doubly amazing because it suggests women were a significant part of the fighting forces and that they provoked a visceral reaction from the Germans who captured them. Ancient battlefields were often just outside their city walls, and rulers formed armies composed of people who were normally peace-time farmers. With limited manpower, the bulk of the conscripts were needed for fighting. The remaining camp followers transported supplies, prepared the food, and performed other non-combat functions in order to maximize the availability of men for combat. Soviet soldiers of the Eastern Front during a short rest after fighting, 1 April 1944. The lack of weapons and armor for camp followers allowed them t...

Reasons why execution by hanging still exist Because it works and it is not complicated to do. All you need is a strong enough rope and a strong enough support to hang it from - no more technology than that. No drugs or gas the supplier can cut off the supply of, no high-voltage electric generator, no guns, just a simple rope. It also happens to be a very quick method if done by the measured long drop. This was invented in the UK. If the rope is too short, the prisoner strangles slowly, and if it is too long, there is the risk of ripping his head off. So the key point with this is to calculate the right length of drop according to the prisoner’s weight. Get this right (and British executioners were good at doing the sums) and the prisoner dies almost instantly of the hangman’s fracture - fracture of the second and third cervical vertebrae, which will also cut the spinal cord. The normal range of drops is between five and eight feet - a heavier prisoner needs a shorter drop as his...

Reasons Why the Nazis send Jews to the concentration camps and not just kill them on the spot I know a lot of Jews were shot and killed in their homes and on the streets but there is also a large majority of them that got sent to the camps. Why go through all that trouble if they were going to be killed anyways? I know Nazis used the Jews as a slave labour force too but did they also pull women and children into slavery too? Because if they didn’t, then I don’t see why the Nazis wouldn’t have just shot them outright.  Feel like I need to declare that I’m not a holocaust denier nor a Neo-Nazi, just genuinely curious why the Nazis chose to commit genocide the way they did.  Two reasons First, maintaining cooperation.  They gradually moved the Jews out of their homes to concentration camps and the Jews complied.  If they just started shooting them the Jews would flee or fight back.   Second, because it was too hard on the people doing the killing.  T...