Rotherham all over again

[Burning Petard]

The profession of 'hangman' is not an unskilled occupation. It takes more than just tying the traditional noose. The age and physical condition of the person in the central role must be individually taken into account both in the placement of the knot and in the amount of drop. Mis-calculation can result in the entire head jerked off the body which would be a be-heading, not the specified hanging. Too little could result in death by strangulation which takes an unseemly amount of time, or worse yet, just dangling there in discomfort but no death. A nearly instantaneous broken neck is the preferred conclusion.

The scarcity of experienced and talented hangmen was a major motivation for the adoption of the electric chair. I believe Utah still provides a choice of firing squad or poison by injection. In Delaware it is by injection with 14 now on death row, but the state law was ruled bad by the state Supremes in August and the legislature will probably (or perhaps already has) abolish the death penalty.

snailgate

[Big RR]

I think that's always been the goal of those who develop execution methods--to get a system that inflicts the least amount of discomfortand that is not subject to the skill of the executioner. The guillotine is a perfect example, providing quick and efficient beheading without the requirement of a trained headsman (with an ax or sword), but it was a bit grisly and eventually gave way to hanging which (required a trained hangman)--I recall reading a book called something like The Hangman's Sourcebook, that discussed ropes, knots, and gave tables that specified rope drops for prisoners of different sizes and weights and rope types (the entire premise was, as you said, to get a quick neck fracture). The electric chair and gas chamber and eventually the lethal injection were seen as improvements to hanging and lethal injection eventually became the norm in states which have the death penalty.

A firing squad deserves special commenting, because it is often seen as a more desirable death by some (hanging the Nazis after the Nuremburg trials was seen as a more severe punishment as many claimed the "right" to be shot as soldiers. And the law in Utah is even stranger; my understanding is that the Mormons (or at least some Mormons, including Brigham Young believe in something called "blood atonement" which required actual spilling of a sinner's blood onto the ground if (s)he committed a particularly heinous crime (hence hanging or electrocution, etc. would not suffice), and the legislature of Utah permitted firing squads as an option for condemned persons until fairly recently (I believe this option is no longer available).

Now while there were executions which required inflicting great pain throughout history (burning, drawing and quartering, impalement), most of these were performed by civil or religious authorities to make a statement and create fear among the general populace. Also, in many of these the body was destroyed and the parts scattered, supposedly to prevent any chance of foregiveness or resurrection by heaven, and further scare the populace.

[Bicycle Bill]

It shouldn't come down to a matter of technique or whether it satisfies some arcane scriptural demand for "blood atonement".  If someone is found guilty of a sufficiently heinous crime that it merits the death penalty then the idea is to make them as dead as possible as soon as possible.  I don't give a damn if you strap them to a plank face-up and then feed them, feet-first and fully conscious, into a wood chipper just so long as they are no longer breathing the air.

Take the current poster child for a public execution (Dylann Roof), or go back to 1991 and Milwaukee's Jeffrey Dahmer or go even further back to Chicago 1966 and Richard Speck.  Not one of these three gave much of a damn about the pain and trauma their victims experienced.  Why should we give a single rat's ass about how much pain or discomfort or psychological trauma they feel as sentence is carried out?

-"BB"-

[Big RR]

I guess it depends what you want BB; if you want to inflict pain along with killing them, then you can do it, but if not, if what you really want to do is to kill them, why do it in such a way. The killer may not have cared, does that mean you shouldn't as well. IMHO, the way you mete out punishment says far more about the kind of people we are, than the kind of person the other person is.

[Lord Jim]

I don't give a damn if you strap them to a plank face-up and then feed them, feet-first and fully conscious, into a wood chipper

Bill, have you met Jarl?

[Gob]

Eighteen people have been convicted of abusing girls in Newcastle who were plied with alcohol and drugs before being forced to have sex.



The vulnerable victims, some as young as 14, were exploited by a "cynical organisation", a court heard.

The 17 men and one woman were convicted of rape, supplying drugs and conspiracy to incite prostitution.

Over the course of four trials, 20 young women gave evidence covering a period from 2011 to 2014.

These trials involved 26 defendants, who were mostly Asian, facing a total of more than 100 charges and 22 victims.

Those prosecuted were from the Bangladeshi, Pakistani, Indian, Iraqi, Iranian and Turkish communities and mainly British-born, with most living in the West End of Newcastle.

Of the 26, three people have been jailed. The rest will be sentenced next month.

[MajGenl.Meade]

Picture 8 - that's supposed to be a woman? I'd need to be plied with a lot of alcohol before even standing close to that.

[Gob]

Child sexual exploitation is an "affront to everyone" and political and cultural sensitivities should not get in the way of uncovering crimes, the home secretary has said.

Amber Rudd said sexual predators were "not restricted to any single ethnic group, religion or community".

Eighteen people have been convicted of forcing girls in Newcastle to have sex.

The convicted were mostly British-born, of Pakistani, Bangladeshi, Indian, Iraqi, Iranian and Turkish backgrounds.

Ms Rudd said: "This was an abhorrent case of sexual predators preying on young women and girls and I am pleased that they have been brought to justice."

She added: "I want to be absolutely clear that political and cultural sensitivities must never be allowed to get in the way of preventing and uncovering it."

The Home Secretary said the government was investing millions of pounds in enabling police to seek out and prosecute offenders.

"This has led to a huge increase in police activity and a marked rise in prosecutions and convictions," she said.

Operation Sanctuary, which was set up in 2013 to investigate claims of sexual abuse against young girls and women, was set up by Northumbria Police.

Convictions include rape, conspiracy to incite prostitution and supplying drugs.

Northumbria Police has said society "can't be afraid to have this discussion".

Earlier, Labour MP Sarah Champion said a fear of being called racist was preventing authorities from investigating the reasons behind child abuse cases.

The MP for Rotherham, where at least 1,400 children were found to have been exploited between 1997 and 2013, said it wasn't racist to explore whether there were any "cultural issues" involved in such cases.

She told BBC Radio 4's Today programme that gang-related child sexual exploitation involved "predominately Pakistani men" who were involved in such cases "time and time and time again".

[Gob]

and speaking the truth got her sacked...

Sarah Champion has resigned as shadow equalities minister after a controversial article published in the Sun newspaper in which she wrote: “Britain has a problem with British Pakistani men raping and exploiting white girls.”

The MP for Rotherham had initially tried to distance herself from the article, but she said she was concerned her position in the shadow cabinet had become a distraction after it emerged her aides had signed off on the piece.

“I apologise for the offence caused by the extremely poor choice of words in the Sun article on Friday,” she said. “I am concerned that my continued position in the shadow cabinet would distract from the crucial issues around child protection which I have campaigned on my entire political career.

“It is therefore with regret that I tender my resignation as shadow secretary of state for women and equalities.”


Champion had told Jeremy Corbyn’s office her piece had been altered and issued a statement to the Guardian saying it should “not have gone out in my name”. The Sun, however, said her team had approved the piece and emailed to say they were thrilled with the final version.

A source at the newspaper said her office had been sent a PDF of the final print version. “Sarah Champion’s column, as it appeared on Friday, was approved by her team and her adviser twice contacted us thereafter to say she was ‘thrilled’ with the piece and it ‘looked great’,” a spokeswoman said.

“Indeed, her only objection after the article appeared was her belief that her picture byline looked unflattering. Her office submitted five new pictures for further use.”

Her resignation on Wednesday afternoon came after more than 100 cross-party MPs led by the Labour MP Naz Shah wrote to the Sun to condemn an article by one of its columnists.

[Scooter]

It was the truth, except for the fact that the perpetrators were of several nationalities and the majority of their victims were not white.

Framing the crimes as she did is reminiscent of U.S. Southern whites who raised the spectre of black men raping white women.

[Big RR]

Not to mention that, I would hope, Britain would have a problem with men of any nationality raping and exploiting girls of any color.