The youngest person ever executed is difficult to pinpoint definitively due to historical record-keeping, but a strong contender from documented history is John Dean, a 9-year-old arsonist hanged in England in 1629, while George Stinney Jr. (14) in 1944 is a tragically famous case of a wrongly executed juvenile in the U.S., though Joe Persons (potentially 12-14) in 1915 is cited as potentially the youngest in the 20th-century U.S. for rape.
The use of the death penalty for crimes committed under the age of 18 is prohibited under international human rights standards, yet some countries still permit or practice the execution of juvenile offenders. Such executions are few compared to the worldwide total number of executions.
KAZAKHSTAN and SIERRA LEONE abolished the death penalty for all crimes. PAPUA NEW GUINEA, the CENTRAL AFRICAN REPUBLIC, EQUATORIAL GUINEA, and ZAMBIA abolished the death penalty for all crimes. ZIMBABWE abolished the death penalty for ordinary crimes.
The shortest time on death row before execution in modern U.S. history, particularly in Texas, is Joe Gonzales, who spent 252 days (about 8 months) before his execution in 1996, while another notable short time was Steven Renfro at 263 days; these are significantly shorter than the average of over a decade, showcasing how quickly some cases can proceed due to streamlined appeals, though many cases take decades.
Marion Bowman Jr. Jessie Dean Hoffman Jr. Norman Mearle Grim Jr.
Definitions of execution. putting a condemned person to death. synonyms: capital punishment, death penalty, executing.
The world's longest-serving death row inmate was Iwao Hakamada from Japan, who spent 46-47 years on death row before being exonerated in 2024 for a 1966 quadruple murder, a case marked by coerced confessions and fabricated evidence, leading to a record compensation payout for his wrongful conviction. Other notable long-stayers include Raymond Riles in the U.S., who spent 45 years on death row, and Richard Jordan, who was executed after a very long legal battle in Mississippi in 2025.
John Henry George "Babbacombe" Lee (15 August 1864 – 19 March 1945) was an Englishman famous for surviving three attempts to hang him for murder.
Guillotin's main reason for this was that decapitation using the guillotine would be more humane. The inclined blade would fall so rapidly that death would be almost painless. This was not a new system of execution; it was already in use in other countries, be it with a straight or round blade.
Unsourced material may be challenged and removed. Three states abolished the death penalty for murder during the 19th century: Michigan (which only executed 1 prisoner and is the first government in the English-speaking world to abolish capital punishment) in 1847, Wisconsin in 1853, and Maine in 1887.
These are China, the Democratic Republic of the Congo, Iran, Nigeria, Pakistan, North Korea, Saudi Arabia, South Sudan, Sudan, the United States, and Yemen. In the United States, this ended in 2005 with the Supreme Court case Roper v. Simmons, in Nigeria in 2015 by law, and in Saudi Arabia in 2020 by royal decree.
Capital punishment is a legal penalty in Pakistan.
Some defendants are ineligible for the death penalty regardless of the crimes with which they are accused. Children and those incompetent to stand trial may not face the death penalty; pregnant women and individuals with intellectual disability may not be executed.
Watt Espy, the oldest person executed in the United States since Joe Lee in Virginia at the age of 83 on April 21, 1916. Nixon's record was surpassed by Walter Moody, who was executed on April 19, 2018, at the age of 83.
The guillotine cut first gained popularity among subculture-ascribing women in the second half of the 1790s, taking hold after the Reign of Terror, during which 17,000 recorded executions — mostly by guillotine — took place. Beheading required that victims' hair be cut short, allowing easy access to the neck.
When clearing Robespierre's neck, executioner Charles-Henri Sanson tore off the bandage that was holding his shattered jaw in place, causing him to produce an agonised scream until his death. He was guillotined at the same place where King Louis XVI, Danton and Desmoulins had been executed.
A guillotine, for example, flexes and rotates the neck past the normal tissue limits, and can lead to structural disruption and short and long term neck pain.
Last woman to be hanged calls for 'truth' in final letter
Nightclub hostess Ruth Ellis, from Rhyl, Denbighshire, was executed on 13 July 1955 after being convicted of murdering her lover David Blakely.
From that day forth, John Lee became "The Man They Could Not Hang" and was also renamed by many as John "Babbacombe" Lee. We now need to look back into John's life to see what led him to this astonishing day's events.
John Smith was an English burglar, who was sentenced to be hanged. and recovered afterwards in 1705. He is said to have remarked ”I could have hanged the people who set me free” due to his headache after reviving.
Francis Clifford Smith is currently the oldest living prisoner still in jail. Smith is serving a life sentence at the Osborn Correctional Institution for murdering a night watchman named Grover Hart on July 23, 1949. At the time, he was only 23 years old and he has been in prison for 71 years.
The shortest time on death row before execution in modern U.S. history, particularly in Texas, is Joe Gonzales, who spent 252 days (about 8 months) before his execution in 1996, while another notable short time was Steven Renfro at 263 days; these are significantly shorter than the average of over a decade, showcasing how quickly some cases can proceed due to streamlined appeals, though many cases take decades.
John Patrick Hannan currently holds the record for the longest time on the run, without being caught at 70 years, having escaped prison in 1955 and remains at large, having never been confirmed dead.