The Executioners

An in-depth look at the history of capital punishment in Britain, France and America. In Britain it was the rope, in France it was the guillotine, but in its short history the United States of America has experimented with the most bewildering array of execution methods, and continues to do so. Perhaps the most overlooked aspect of American execution protocols, though, has been the role of the executioner.

Whereas British and French executioners were invariably well-known and truly responsible for the execution, even to the extent of supporting the condemned in their final moments, American executioners play an altogether more shadowy role.