Hanging deaths
Hanging deaths refer to fatalities resulting from suspending a person by the neck, which compresses blood vessels and obstructs oxygen and blood flow. In forensic investigations, determining the cause of death as hanging involves examining various forms of evidence, such as ligature marks on the neck and the position of the body. These deaths can be categorized as intentional, accidental, or criminal, with a significant number being suicides. Forensic scientists employ methods to differentiate between these categories, looking for signs such as the presence of ligature marks, facial congestion, and potential fractures of the hyoid bone or cervical spine. Historically, hanging has been used as a method of execution in many countries, including the United States, where it is now infrequently employed due to concerns about its humane application. Some states have ceased using hanging for executions, citing the Eighth Amendment's prohibition against cruel and unusual punishment. While its use has declined, it remains a method of execution in certain jurisdictions globally.
On this Page
Subject Terms
Hanging deaths
DEFINITION: Means of causing death by suspending a person by the neck, thus compressing blood vessels in the neck and cutting off oxygen and blood flow.
SIGNIFICANCE: When attempting to determine whether a death has been caused by hanging, forensic scientists must look at several different types of evidence, including ligature marks around the neck. Investigators must also be aware of the kinds of evidence that indicate whether a death by hanging was intentional or accidental and whether the death resulted from the actions of the deceased or those of some other person.
Deaths by hanging may be criminal, intentional, or accidental acts; many hangings are suicidal. Forensic scientists have several means of determining whether a death has been caused by hanging. The most obvious clues are when a body is found suspended from some object above the head, with some type of ligature around the neck, and with the body in a fully erect position and the feet off the ground. A person does not have to be in an erect position to cause a hanging; however, people have been known to hang themselves from sitting positions by using doors or other means to cause the necessary neck compression that results in death by hanging.
In investigating a suspected hanging, forensic scientists look for marks around the neck and determine whether these were caused by some type of ligature or by some means of strangulation. Soft ligatures, such as those made from bedsheets, do not leave much in the way of a line on the neck, so in such cases, forensic scientists must look for additional evidence, such as a congested face and compression of the carotid artery or jugular vein. Another way forensic scientists detect a hanging is by looking for a fracture of the hyoid bone, which is the highest bone in the larynx section of the neck. Strangulation may also result in a fractured hyoid bone, however, so this is not a definitive measure for detecting a hanging. A hanging death may also result in a break in the cervical spine. Forensic scientists also look for footprints and other evidence at the death scene that may indicate whether the decedent was lifted or suspended into the air by another person for purposes of carrying out the hanging.
Governments have used hanging as a method of execution for centuries. Some US states that once used this method of carrying out death sentences later concluded that hanging violates the prohibition against cruel and unusual punishment in the Eighth Amendment to the US Constitution, particularly given that hanging is not always immediately successful in causing death. Hanging is rarely used in the United States as a means of carrying out the death penalty (the method is officially sanctioned only in the states of New Hampshire and Washington), but many other nations still use this method. When hanging is used to carry out a sentence of death in the United States, a medical practitioner or forensic scientist must be present to determine that the prisoner is dead by checking vital signs.
Bibliography
Crudele, Graziano Domenico Luigi, et al. "Pathological Findings in Hanging: Is the Traditional Knowledge Correct?" Diagnostics (Basel), vol. 14, no. 3, 1 Feb. 2024, 10.3390/diagnostics14030318. Accessed 15 Aug. 2024.
Duff, Charles. A Handbook on Hanging. 1928. New York Review of Books, 2001.
Ford, Matt. "A Brief History of American Executions." Atlantic, June 2015, pp. 80–81.
Goldstein, Scott. "Hanging Injuries and Strangulation." Medscape, 3 Dec. 2020, emedicine.medscape.com/article/826704-overview?form=fpf. Accessed 15 Aug. 2024.
Owen, David. Hidden Evidence: Forty True Crimes and How Forensic Science Helped Solve Them. Firefly Books, 2000.
Sachs, Jessica Snyder. Corpse: Nature, Forensics, and the Struggle to Pinpoint Time of Death. Perseus, 2002.
Sullivan, Erin M. "Suicide Trends Among Persons Aged 10–24 Years: United States, 1994–2012." MMWR: Morbidity and Mortality Weekly Report, 6 Mar. 2015, pp. 201–5.