Execution by firing squad

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

(Redirected from Firing squad)

The Third of May by Francisco Goya

Execution by firing squad is a method of capital punishment, particularly common in times of war. The firing squad is generally composed of several soldiers or peace officers. The method of execution requires all members of the group to fire simultaneously, thus preventing both disruption of the process by a single member and identification of the member who fired the lethal shot. The condemned is typically blindfolded or hooded, as well as restrained. Executions can be carried out with the condemned either standing or sitting.

In some cases, one member of the firing squad is issued a weapon containing a blank cartridge instead of one with a bullet, without telling any of them to whom it has been given. This is believed to reduce flinching by individual members of the firing squad, making the execution process more reliable. It also allows each member of the firing squad a chance to believe afterward that he did not personally fire a fatal shot. This reinforces the sense of diffusion of responsibility. While an experienced marksman can tell the difference between a blank and a live cartridge based on the recoil (the blank will have much lower recoil), there is a significant psychological incentive not to pay attention and, over time, to remember the recoil as soft.

The firing squad is commonly used to execute spies; the renowned World War I spy Mata Hari was executed in this manner. It is often considered a particularly honorable method of execution,^{[citation needed]} and as such is intentionally not used for war criminals, who are often hanged — a penalty associated with common criminals. In contrast, firing squads were used by some countries to execute war criminals after World War II, most notably by Poland, the Soviet Union, Denmark and Norway.

The method is also the supreme punishment or disciplinary means employed by courts martial for crimes such as cowardice, desertion or mutiny. One such execution was that of Private Eddie Slovik by the U.S. Army in 1945. Slovik was the first U.S. soldier executed for desertion since the American Civil War. It has also been applied for violent crimes carried out by soldiers, such as murder or rape. Also notably, Jean-Marie Bastien-Thiry was executed by firing squad for his participation in the assassination attempt on President Charles de Gaulle.

Firing squads have also been used for political crimes. Romanian Communist leader Nicolae Ceauşescu (25 December 1989) is an example of this. Also the Italian fascist dictator Benito Mussolini was executed in this manner, on 28 April 1945, by a firing squad of the Italian resistance movement.

World War I firing squad (staged)

Execution by firing squad should be considered distinct from other forms of execution by firearms, such as a single shot from a handgun to the back of the neck. However, the single shot (coup de grâce) is sometimes incorporated in a firing squad execution, particularly if the initial volley turns out not to be immediately fatal.

1 Firing squads in the United States
2 Firing squads in Canada
3 Firing squads in the United Kingdom
4 Firing squads in Finland
5 Firing squads in Norway
6 Firing squads in The Netherlands
7 Today
8 See also
9 External links
10 References

[edit] Firing squads in the United States

Main article: Capital punishment in the United States

According to Executions in the U.S. 1608-1987 by M. Watt Espy and John Ortiz Smylka, it is estimated that 142 men have been judicially shot in the United States and English-speaking predecessor territories since 1608, excluding executions related to the American Civil War. The Civil War saw several hundred firing squad deaths, but reliable numbers are not available. Crimes punishable by firing squad in the Civil War included desertion, intentionally killing a superior officer or fellow soldier, and being a spy.

Firing squad history and laws in the U.S.
Color key: Secondary method only Once used firing squad, but does not today Has never used firing squad

Capital punishment was suspended in the United States between 1967 and 1976 as a result of several decisions of the United States Supreme Court. The process resumed with the execution of Gary Gilmore on January 17, 1977, at Utah State Prison in Draper. The five executioners were equipped with .30-30 caliber rifles and off-the-shelf Winchester 150 grain (9.7 g) SilverTip ammunition. The subject was restrained and hooded. The shots were fired at a distance of 20 feet (6 m), aiming at the chest. In his autobiography Shot in the Heart, Mikal Gilmore wrote that when he examined the shirt worn by his brother Gary during the execution, he found five bullet holes, indicating that all members of the squad had been armed with live cartridges and none with a blank round.

The only other post-Furman execution by firing squad (that of John Albert Taylor in 1996) also took place in Utah. Taylor is said to have chosen the firing squad because it would be awkward for state officials.

In Utah, the firing squad (a five-man team) consisted of volunteer police officers from the county in which the conviction of the offender took place. A law passed on March 15, 2004 banned execution by firing squad in Utah, but since that specific law was not retroactive, four inmates on Utah's death row could still have their last requests granted. As of 2006, Idaho and Oklahoma are the only other states in which execution by firing squad is legally available (as backup methods only; both states use lethal injection as their primary methods of execution).

[edit] Firing squads in Canada

Canada executed several men for military crimes, chiefly cowardice and desertion, in the First World War, and maintained the death sentence in the Canadian Criminal Code until 1976 and militarily until 1998 (although the last execution held in Canada was in 1962). One soldier was executed during the Second World War, Private Harold Joseph Pringle of The Hastings and Prince Edward Regiment who was executed in Italy in 1945 for murder. The novel Execution is a fictional treatment of this incident and inspired the television movie Firing Squad. In general, Canadian firing squads and the imposition of capital punishment was patterned after the British military justice system.

[edit] Firing squads in the United Kingdom

Main article: Capital punishment in the United Kingdom

Execution by firing squad in the United Kingdom has been limited to times of war, armed insurrection, and within the military.

Within the military, Admiral John Byng was one of the most senior officers and the last of his rank to be executed in this fashion. He was shot on 14 March 1757 at Portsmouth for "failing to do his utmost" in an encounter with the French fleet during the Seven Years' War. Australian soldiers, Harry "Breaker" Morant and Peter Handcock were shot by a British firing squad on February 27, 1902, for alleged war crimes during the Boer War; many questions have since been raised as to whether they received a fair trial. Morant's (now famous) final words were "shoot straight, you bastards".

Following the 1916 Easter Rising in Ireland, the 15 of the 16 rebel leaders were shot by the British military authorities under martial law. One leader, James Connolly, who could not stand because a bullet had already shattered his ankle during the fighting was strapped to a chair and shot. The executions have often been cited as a reason why the rebels managed to galvanise public support in Ireland after their failed rebellion. In the ensuing Irish War of Independence (1919-1921), the British authorities were wary of carrying out executions for fear of further inflaming nationalist sentiment. Nevertheless, 14 Irish Republican Army members were shot by firing squad during the conflict. However, the most draconian use of this punishment in the period came after the British had withdrawn from the Irish Free State. In the Irish Civil War of 1922-23, the new Irish government officially executed 77 Anti-Treaty IRA members by firing squad (see Executions during the Irish Civil War).

The Tower of London was used during both World Wars for executions: during World War I, 11 captured German spies were shot, and on 15 August 1941 German Corporal Josef Jakobs was shot for espionage during World War II.

Private Thomas Highgate was the first British soldier to be convicted of desertion and then executed by firing squad during the First World War. Particularly since the 1960s there has been some controversy concerning 346 British and Imperial troops — including 25 Canadian, 22 Irish and 5 New Zealand troops — who were shot for desertion, murder, cowardice and other offences during the War, some of whom are now thought to have been suffering from combat stress reaction or Post Traumatic Stress Disorder (or "shell-shock" as it was then known). The New Zealand government pardoned their troops in 2000; the British government in 1998 expressed sympathy for the executed; in 2006 the Secretary of State for Defence announced a full pardon for all 306 executed soldiers of the First War.^[1]

Capital punishment in the UK, including the military, was formally outlawed by the Human Rights Act 1998 (s. 21(5)), although capital punishment for murder had been abolished before this, and there had been no judicial executions by any method since 1964.

[edit] Firing squads in Finland

This article is part of the
Capital punishment series

Issues

Capital punishment debate
Religion and capital punishment
Wrongful execution

By region

Australia Brazil Canada China
Europe France Germany India
Italy Iraq Japan Malaysia
Pakistan Philippines
Russia Taiwan United Kingdom
United States
More...

Methods

Decapitation
Electrocution
Firing squad
Gas chamber
Hanging
Lethal injection
More...

The death penalty was widely used during and after the Finnish Civil War; some 9,700 Finns were executed during the war or its aftermath.^[2] Most executions were carried out by firing squads after the sentences were given by illegal or semi-legal courts martial. Only some 250 persons were sentenced to death in courts acting on legal authority.^[3]

During World War II some 500 persons were executed, half of them condemned spies. The usual causes for death penalty for Finnish citizens were treason and high treason (and to a lesser extent cowardice and disobedience, applicable for military personnel). Almost all cases of capital punishment were carried out by court martial. Usually the executions were carried out by the regimental military police platoon, or in the case of spies, by the local military police. Most executions occurred in 1941 and during the Soviet Summer Offensive in 1944. The last death sentences were given in 1945 for murder but later commuted to life imprisonment.^[4]

The death penalty was abolished in by Finnish law in 1949 for crimes committed during peace time, and in 1972 for all crimes.^[5] Finland is party to the Optional protocol of the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights, forbidding the use of the death penalty in all circumstances.^[6]

[edit] Firing squads in Norway

Vidkun Quisling, the Norwegian traitor and Nazi supporter was sentenced to death by firing squad, and he was executed at Akershus festning on October 24, 1945.

[edit] Firing squads in The Netherlands

Anton Mussert, a Dutch Nazi leader was sentenced to death by firing squad, and he was executed in the dunes near The Hague on 7 May 1946.

[edit] Today

Apart from the two states in the United States, execution by firing squad is still actively carried out in other countries where the death penalty is used. In the United Arab Emirates it is the preferred method of execution.^[7] In other countries like China, execution by shooting is the most common form of execution.