Execution is a common punishment throughout the world for cruel and unspeakable acts of violence and acts of rage. The cruelest form of execution is hard to say because there are many different forms of execution. Execution dates back to the middle ages. It was used for a large number of crimes including petty offenses involving property. Most death sentences involved torture, such as burning at the stake, breaking on the wheel, and strangulation. Burning …showed first 75 words of 462 total…

…showed last 75 words of 462 total…by tying and locking a chain around his or her neck. Today capital punishment has become less gruesome than the beheadings and torture that were common centuries before. Lethal injection, electrocution, and lethal gas have become the preferred methods of execution in the United States, mostly because these methods appear to be less offensive to the public, and more humane for the prisoner. ------------------------------------------------------------------------ **Bibliography**  World Book Millenium 2000; Volume D, pages 313 & 314; 1990;  The World Book Encyclopedia