The Executioners

Siren Visual

R4 DVD

Web: http://www.sirenvisual.com.au

The Executioners is a well produced, professional and intelligent look at the history of execution, the various methods used, the issues surroundings its use and the effect it has had on those who have been involved in undertaking the task on behalf of the state. It avoids sensationalism and takes a serious and insightful approach to its subject. The series is divided into three approximately one hour long episodes focusing on the use of capital punishment in England, France and the United States.

The first episode explores the development of hanging within England from the use of strangulation (the short rope) and public executions to the use of the “long rope” to create an instantaneous death. One of the most fascinating aspects of this first episode is on the technology of hanging from the importance of the knot and the type of rope to the way in which the “drop” is calculated. It also examines the lives of various hangman and the effect, in most cases tragic, it had on their lives.

The second episode explores the development of execution in France and how it began in a way very different from that of England. Originally the lower classes were subject to all manner of torture and killing while the upper classes were killed by the more noble method of decapitation by sword. This was undertaken by a special class of executioner who lived outside the town and was financed by the Kings largesse. However, after the French revolution there was a desire for a more “democratic” method of execution and since death by sword required a certain “cooperation” from the prisoner, the guillotine (known as “The Widow” in France) was developed. In the case of France the executioners kept to themselves and literally formed a special family dynasty which undertook the task and this is explored in some depth.

In the final episode The Executioners looks at the complex situation of capital punishment in the United States. Since the fifty states each had their own systems of law and custom, most developed their own approach to capital punishment. For example, in Utah, since it was a Mormon state, that the Old Testament ideal “of spilling blood for blood” was required and hence capital punishment must be via firing squad.

Hanging was certainly the earliest method right from the frontier days through to the shameful episode at the Nuremberg trials where the hanging methods were deliberately used to make the Nazi prisoners suffer as long as possible before death.

Most of the other States began with hanging then moved to the use of poison gas with others to the electric chairs.

After a number of problems with the technology of the gas (in one case an inmate took 11 minutes to die), the majority of States either moved to the electric chair or to lethal injection. Again this episode examines the experience of many executioners including those who manned travelling electric chair vehicles ! There is also a discussion of the ethics of execution and the meaning of “cruel and unusual” punishment in terms of the American constitution.

This is a superb documentary which avoids sensationalism which examining a fascinating if not perhaps a little morbid subject. The unusual perspective it takes exploring the lives of the executioner creates a powerfully personal angle we helps us to appreciate the effect that taking such a job had on the individual and their family. It is well presented with recreations, rare photographs, interviews and a good balance of early historical background, technical information and modern reflections on the use of capital punishment today.