The Executioner

His Place in English Society

Bibliographic Data

ID5635005
AuthorsGerald D Robin (corresponding author)
Year1964
Volume15
Issue3
Pages234
Publication date1964-09-01
Peer ReviewedYes
Open AccessNo
TypeARTICLE
VenueBritish Journal of Sociology (JOURNAL)
Journal identifiersISSN: 0007-1315 • E-ISSN: 1468-4446
PublisherJSTOR (PUBLISHER)
DOI10.2307/588468
OpenAlexW2328740913
LanguageEN
Citations received8
References cited1

N VIEW of the voluminous literature on capital punishment, it is surprising that greater attention has not been directed to the executioner. What type of person was the executioner? How did he obtain his position? How was he received by the community which he served? What effect did his work have upon him? Was his position a profitable one? And what, if any, have been the changes over the years in the functions of the executioner and the public's attitude towards him? It is the purpose of this paper to explore these and related phenomena as they apply primarily to the executioner in England. The role of the executioner has varied with time and place: he was a hangman in England, a guillotiner in France and many German states, a garroter in Spain, and (more recently) an electrocutioner in the United States.' Nevertheless, of all methods of administering the death penalty, hanging has been more widely utilized than any other. Accounts of hangings are reported in the earliest literature, and even today hanging is more extensively used throughout the world as a mode of execution than any other device.2 Unquestionably, England has been the most energetic and persistent supporter of hanging; from England it was introduced to America and became the general method of execution in that country until the electric chair was invented and gradually adopted by several states.3

Criminology · Sociology · Criminal Justice and Corrections Analysis · Torture, Ethics, and Law

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