emmie - // or perhaps it is now, it didn't used to be in the old days when we had the death penalty //
Hanging became as quick and humane a death as it could be when executioner Albert Pierrepoint took over the role.
Pierrepoint pioneered the concept of assessing the weight of the condemned prisoner and using a table of calculations he created to meaure the appropriate 'drop' - the length of rope needed to create the correct force when the body snapped the rope taut and the neck was broken instantly.
Pierrepoint also discovered exactly the correct place to place the knot of the noose for a clean break.
Initially, Pierrepoint asked for the prison warders to weigh the prisonder, but eventually he became so adept at judging weight on sight that he would gauge it by a covert glance through the condemned cell spy hole the evening before the execution.
Pierrepoint also ensured that his hangings were done as quickly as possible.
Again by the end of his career, Pierrepoint could have the condemned prisoner through the execution cell door, onto the drop, arms and legs pinned, arms by himself, legs by his assistant, noose in place, and the lever pulled, in less than fifteen seconds. His record was twelve seconds.
Obviously other countries have their own methods, which may not be as careful as Mr Pierrepoint's were, and may not be based on a level of humanity towards the condemned prisoner.
The simple fact is, if the length of the rope is too short, the prisnoner will slowly strangle to death, and if it is too long, the prisoner can be decapitated.