Innocent May Be Freed -- If the Guilty Are Apprehended IPS Uzbekistan has not broken with its past. The announcement of its abolition of the death penalty does not mean it will now be respecting the rights of individual, says Surat Ikramov, a leading rights lawyer. Ikramov says the central Asian nation of Uzbekistan remains a secretive dictatorship. Nothing was known about the operation of the death penalty before the abolition news -- and little is known today about what happens behind prison bars.
Paper Calls for Death Penalty Debate The BBC The Sun and the Daily Mirror both lead with the conviction of Mark Dixie for the murder of Sally Anne Bowman. The Sun reports demands from the teenager's mother for the return of the death penalty. The paper says the time is right for another debate on capital punishment, but makes it clear it would oppose any such move. The Mirror uses words from her father that her "heart will go on" - lyrics from her favourite Celine Dion song.
Chief Justice Drops Bid to Speed Up Death Penalty Appeals Los Angeles Times Chief Justice Ronald M. George has told the state Judicial Council that because of California's fiscal problems, he is withdrawing a proposal to amend the state Constitution to speed up death penalty appeals. The amendment was put forth by the seven-member state Supreme Court in November and would have enabled that body to refer some cases to intermediate-level appellate courts for initial review.
Love in the Time of Terror The Guardian The period of the French revolution and especially the Terror which followed it are full of horrendous violence and brutality, and Madame Guillotine casts her frightful shadow over everything. Such gruesome stuff is exactly what many children look for in their historical fiction and sometimes the more plagues, wars, torments and nastiness you can cram into a book, the more popular it will be with the young.
February 25, 2008
Today, politicians spend hundreds of millions of dollars on the image they want to convey to the voters. Unfortunately, Dr. Joseph-Ignace Guillotin didn't have that option.
For more than 200 years, his name has been associated with one of the most diabolical instruments of death ever created. But the truth - as is often the case in life and politics - is something quite different.
Guillotin began his life as a Jesuit, but ultimately decided to leave the Society of Jesus and study medicine at Reims and the University of Paris.
In 1784, the French government asked him - along with American Benjamin Franklin - to investigate the authenticity of the "animal magnetism" being espoused by Dr. Franz Mesmer. Five years later, Guillotin became a deputy in the Assemblee Constituante. It was there that he proposed the creation of a machine that he hoped would make executions more humane, not more gruesome.
Indeed, Guillotin was a member of a French reform movement that wanted to completely abolish the death penalty. But with revolutionary fervor building, and the instincts of a good politician, he took what he could get. On Oct. 10, 1789, during the second day of debate on France's penal code, Guillotin proposed six articles to the new Legislative Assembly. One of them said "the criminal shall be decapitated; this will be done solely by means of a simple mechanism." Furthermore, he asked for the design of a "machine that beheads painlessly."
That's the only connection between Dr. Guillotin and the implement that would come to define the French Revolution and forever be associated with his name.
Antoine Louis, secretary of the Academy of Surgeons, was actually charged with coming up with just such a device. He turned to Tobias Schmidt, a German harpsichord maker, to design it. His fee was 960 francs, which included a leather bag to catch the severed head.
The first prototype was set up on April 11, 1792. The test subjects were sheep and calves, followed by cadavers from a local prison hospital. The original blade didn't make a clean, swift cut. So Schmidt suggested the now-familiar diagonal blade instead of the traditional rounded one.
"Tres Magnifique," must have been their response upon seeing its perfection.
The finished product weighed about 580 kilos (or 1,278 pounds). The blade itself weighed over 40 kilos. The side posts were just over 4 meters tall, and the blade drop was 2.3 meters. Power at impact? About 400 kilos, or 888 pounds, per square inch.
An estimated 40,000 prisoners would eventually meet their demise at the hands of Schmidt's invention, including Louis XVI and Marie Antoinette. Contrary to popular belief, Guillotin was not beheaded.
He was imprisoned because of a letter from Count Mere, who was about to be executed. He asked Guillotin to take care of his wife and children. When Robespierre fell from power and the Reign of Terror came to an end, Guillotin was released. He died from a carbuncle (a nasty cyst) on his left shoulder in 1814.
Embarrassed by their association with the guillotine, his family asked the government to change the name; it refused. So the Guillotins changed their name.
Even if he were alive today, I doubt Guillotine would be able to clear his name. Today's media would find the story simply too good to ignore - regardless of the truth.
History of the Guillotine Metaphor The Halifax Gibbet, a precursor to the guillotine was used in Halifax, England, at executions on market-days. May have functioned as early as 1280. The last execution with the Halifax gibbet took place in 1648.
Off With Their Heads HistoryWiz Although the guillotine's fame dates from its extensive use during the Reign of Terror of the French Revolution, the first guillotine-like instrument was used as early as 1307. It may have been used earlier but the first solid evidence is its use in Ireland in 1307.
The French Revolution http://www.rjgeib.com/thoughts/french/french.html The French Revolution is clearly one of the central events in Western civilization - a period of history whose characters and events have always fascinated me. The more moderate American Revolution, in comparison, was much less influential upon the world of its time - even if it was more successful and less bloody.
How would you like to die?
50% 0% 33% 17% 0%
Boswell said...
It just wouldn't have had the same panache if it was called the Schmidt.
Interesting blog.
thecatalyst said...
If he were alive today, he could get his story out without relying on traditional media outlets. He could just use the internet. What a world!