Citation

Spence MW, Shkrum MJ, Ariss A, Regan J. Am. J. Forensic Med. Pathol. 1999; 20(4): 309-322.

Affiliation

Department of Anthropology, University of Western Ontario, London, Canada.

Copyright

(Copyright © 1999, Lippincott Williams and Wilkins)

DOI

unavailable

PMID

10624922

Abstract

Restoration projects and archaeologic excavations in two Canadian prisons resulted in the recovery of the skeletons of six felons executed by judicial hanging. Damage inflicted by hanging on various skeletal elements was observed. Among the injuries seen were fractures of the hyoid cornua, styloid processes, occipital bones, and cervical vertebral bodies (C2) and transverse processes (C1, C2, C3, and C5). Despite the general uniformity of the hanging technique, which involved a subaural knot, the trauma to the skeletal elements and the cause of death varied among individuals. Although some of this variation was probably due to minor differences in hanging practices, individual anatomic peculiarities of the victims likely also contributed.

Language: en