NCJ Number
232575
Journal
Journal of Forensic Sciences Volume: 55 Issue: 5 Dated: September 2010 Pages: 1268-1271
Date Published
September 2010
Length
4 pages
Annotation
This article reviews the historic experiments that shaped our current theories of the exact mechanism leading to death in hangings.
Abstract
In cases of hanging, the exact mechanism leading to death has yet to be elucidated. Most of our contemporary knowledge is still based on writings from the end of the 19th and the beginning of the 20th century. Medico-legal textbooks written in English and French from 1870 to 1930 were reviewed in the current study. Various animals, such as rabbits, mice, and dogs, have been used to develop animal models of hanging. Limited human studies on cadavers and judicial hangings have provided some additional insight into the pathophysiology of death by hanging. The main pathophysiological theories described were respiratory asphyxia, interruption to cerebral blood flow because of occlusion of vessels in the neck, and cardiac inhibition secondary to nerve stimulation. The relative contributions of each of these theories to death in cases of hanging is still debated today. (Published Abstract)