Stoning

Stoning, or lapidation, is a form of capital punishment whereby a group throws stones at a person until the person dies. No individual among the group can be identified as the one who kills the subject, yet everyone involved plainly bears some degree of moral culpability. This is in contrast to the case of a judicial executioner. Stoning is slower than other forms of execution, and hence is a form of execution by torture. The methods for carrying out stoning may vary across different histories and cultures. For example, the Islamic Penal Code of Iran details how stoning punishments are to be carried out for adultery, and even hints in some contexts that the punishment may allow for its victims to avoid death: Article 102 – An adulterous...