Craniocervical injuries in judicial hangings - An anthropologic analysis of six cases

Restoration projects and archaeologic excavations in two Canadian prisons r esulted in the recovery of the skeletons of six felons executed by judicial hanging. Damage inflicted by hanging on various skeletal elements was obse rved. Among the injuries seen were fractures of the hyoid cornua, styloid p rocesses, occipital bones, and cervical vertebral bodies (C2) and transvers e processes (C1, C2, C3, and C5). Despite the general uniformity of the han ging technique, which involved a subaural knot, the trauma to the skeletal elements and the cause of death varied among individuals. Although some of this variation was probably due to minor differences in hanging practices, individual anatomic peculiarities of the victims likely also contributed.