Crime and Punishment Trivia

1. In which country was Malin Mattsdotter convicted of witchcraft based on the testimony of her daughters in 1676, and her denials of such activity were taken as proof that she was indeed in league with the Devil?

From Quiz Weird Sisters

Answer: Sweden

According to her daughters, Anna and Maria Eriksdotter, Malin had taken them and other children to the legendary island of Blockula to visit Satan on many occasions. Furthermore, when Malin was asked to confess by the court, the Devil appeared beside her, visible to the children, instructing her to not do so. Upon being ordered by the court to fall to her knees and pray to have the ability to confess, Malin finally did so, and the children reported that the Devil was now no longer visible, although they reiterated their testimony regarding the island of Blockula. Malin's denials only increased her guilt as Satan made it possible for her to withstand interrogation. Malin was found guilty by a unanimous decision and sentenced by a majority vote to death by being burned alive. A bag of gunpowder would be secured around her neck in order to make her death quicker. She maintained her innocence to the last, and according to reports from witnesses at the burning in the town square of Horterget in Stockholm, she did not scream. Her death in silence provided further proof of her guilt, as witches feel no pain.

From Quiz I Told You I Wasn't Guilty

Answer: Dingo

When Lindy Chamberlain's daughter went missing while she and her husband were camping in central Australia, she was charged and convicted of murder. Her husband was incarcerated after being found guilty of being an accessory to the murder. Then, in 1986, a tourist went missing in the area where they had been camping. During the search for the tourist, the daughter's jacket was found in an area that had many dingo lairs. The couple was released, the cases were reopened and both were exonerated by the courts in 1988.

From Quiz Spies Like Them

Answer: Mata Hari

Mata Hari was born in the Netherlands to a well-to-do family and had a lavish childhood, but struggled to make a living as a young divorcee and became an exotic dancer. She became famous for her provocative act which allowed her travel freely around Europe during wartime. She was found guilty of passing secrets from the French and British to Germany and was sentenced to death by firing squad in 1917.

From Quiz Want To Join My Posse?

Answer: a fortune in gold

John William Reed was operating the mission as a bread and breakfast, accepting only gold in payment. The rumor was that the gold was hidden on the property. Lynch and his gang killed Reed, his pregnant wife, and all of the employees and guests. They never did find the gold. They were found by the posse and Lynch was executed by firing squad.

From Quiz Sitting in the Hot Seat

Answer: Thomas Edison

Chapter 352 of the Laws was enacted in 1886 which enabled the New York State Government to assemble a commission to investigate and identify a more humane way in which to carry out capital punishment. To this point the favoured method was hanging but the downsides of this option were the length of time it took for the prisoner to die and the amount of pain that was inflicted upon the condemned person. Thomas Edison was the founder of Edison General Electric. His organisation had, in 1882, established the first electrical utility industry. When he heard of the commission and that one of the options put forward was death by electric current he became an advocate and a powerful campaigner for the method. He was most insistent that alternating current be the appliance for this purpose. Edison's motives for this, however, were not without flaw. Sources: http://www.ccadp.org/electricchair.htm http://targetstudy.com/knowledge/invention/124/electric-chair.html

From Quiz The Hangman's Noose

Answer: Albert Pierrepoint

Albert was the most famous of the family which provided three of the UK's official hangmen. Henry was Albert's father and Thomas was his uncle. Whatever Pierrepoint thought and felt as he executed all these people is unknown but in his 1974 autobiography he wrote, "I have come to the conclusion that executions solve nothing and are only an antiquated relic of a primitive desire for revenge which takes the easy way and hands over the responsibility for revenge to other people." (At least 200 of the people hanged by Albert Pierrepoint were Nazi war criminals executed in the British Zone of Germany).

From Quiz A Snitch in Time

Answer: John Gotti

Gravano was placed in the Witness Protection Program following his testimony. He also had plastic surgery to help conceal his identity.

From Quiz Medieval Torture in all its Infamy

Answer: The Rack

Being broken on the Rack was simple in principle, but a horrible torture which had a couple of different forms. Most commonly, a sufferer was strapped to a table with ropes pulling their arms and legs in different directions. A variation had the victim suspended over a wooden horse (wedge), with the ropes pulling downward.

From Quiz Infamous Executions

Answer: Joachim von Ribbentrop

Joachim von Ribbentrop was found guilty of all charges at Nuremberg and was the first to be hanged. Hermann Göring was scheduled to be the first, but he committed suicide hours before he took his place at the gallows. Martin Bormann, was missing and was sentenced to death in absentia. Heinrich Himmler never made it to trial as he also committed suicide after being arrested by British forces.

From Quiz Don't Stop the Thieving

Answer: The Mona Lisa

Vincenzo Peruggia, a former Louvre employee, walked into the museum one day after being fired. In broad daylight he took the painting out of the frame and hid it under his clothing. He walked out the front door unnoticed and was not caught until he attempted to sell the painting two years later. He only received 6 months in jail and was considered a hero in his native Italy.

From Quiz Just Hanging Around

Answer: Tyburn

Tyburn was situated close to the current day position of Marble Arch. It was used as an execution site until the late 18th century. The Tyburn Tree was a unique gallows that allowed several people to be hanged at once. The most ever recorded was a simultaneous hanging of 24 people in June 1649. Public executions were very popular. People made a day out of it and there was much competition for the best seats. The condemned felon had the opportunity to make a farewell speech from the gallows before being hanged, and the public expected these to be witty - a difficult feat to pull off under the circumstances.

From Quiz One Head Is Better Than None

Answer: Cicero

Marc Antony had Cicero's hands cut off because they were the hands that had written Philippics against Marc Antony and Octavian's handling of the Roman Empire after the murder of Julius Caesar.

From Quiz You Stole My Diamonds!

Answer: The Millennium Dome, London

The flawless, pear shaped, diamond was the central part of a diamond exhibition at London's Millennium Dome. The robbers' plan was to smash the display case with a mechanical digger, grab the Millennium Star and the eleven other diamonds in the exhibition, and escape by speedboat down the adjacent River Thames. Police had been tipped off in advance and were waiting for them. The entire gang were arrested.

From Quiz Legal Murder: A History of the Death Penalty

Answer: 25

As you can imagine, the forms of execution used were quite barbaric.

From Quiz You're Tearing Me Apart!

Answer: Pear of Anguish

The pear of anguish or choke pear was a terrible device that was capable of killing a person. While it had the ability to act as a gag it was usually used for torture. It was also used in other orifices when punishing homosexuals, women who had committed adultery or women who had caused themselves to miscarry. First mentioned in the 17th century, there are many examples of these devices in museums throughout the world.

From Quiz Legal Murder: A History of the Death Penalty

Answer: Michigan

Michigan abolished the death penalty in 1846. Wisconsin did so in 1853 and Alaska in 1957 (when it was not yet a state). Virginia still applies the death penalty.

From Quiz Capital Punishment (All American)

Answer: Lethal Injection

Certainly makes one even more scared of needles - right?

From Quiz Innocent Man

Answer: Murder of Jill Dando

Television presenter Jill Dando was shot and killed on the doorstep of her home in April 1999. After a long investigation, which often appeared to be going nowhere, Barry George was arrested and, in July 2001, found guilty. The case hinged on forensic evidence. George always protested his innocence and in 2007 the Court of Appeal quashed his conviction. A re-trial in 2008 found him not guilty as the forensic evidence was flawed. Police did not reopen the case and no-one else has been charged with the murder.

From Quiz The Fascinating Electric Chair

Answer: New York

After a gruesome hanging in 1887, New York decided to start a committee to search for a humane method of execution. Harold P. Brown, an employee of Thomas Edison, created the first Electric Chair using the formula from Nikola Tesla's alternating current. The Alternating-Current Electric Chair was adopted by the committee in 1889. (Wikipedia page on the Electric Chair).

From Quiz Last Hangings in UK Prisons

Answer: 1963

The hangman was Harry Allen and it was the third from last hanging in the UK. The executed prisoner was Dennis John Whitty.

From Quiz American Gangs and Hate Groups

Answer: Chicago

The gang was founded in Chicago, Illinois in the 1940s with the original intent of fighting injustice against those of Hispanic origin. However, members soon became involved in crimes such as kidnapping, drug smuggling and murder. This was especially felt after the move to New York, headed by Filipe (aka King Blood), inciting a huge police crackdown which resulted in the arrest of many high ranking members of the group. Despite Filipe being incarcerated for much of his life he continued to influence many on the inside and outside with his teachings, thus causing the group to grow rapidly. In 1996, the new leader of the Latin Kings, Antonio "King Tone" Fernandez, attempted to create a new image of the gang, one which seemed more aligned to their original ideals. In the early 2000s the Chicago and New York chapters were relatively separate in their activities. Latin King members tend to wear yellow (gold), black and red and can be associated with symbols such as the pentacle and a number of crown designs.

From Quiz Crucifixion: A Fate Worse than Death

Answer: "fixing to a cross"

When a victim was condemned to be crucified their arms and legs were fixed to the cross with rope, or less commonly nails.

From Quiz Let's Swing

Answer: 1965

The Labour government of Harold Wilson in 1964 made the abolition of capital punishment a major priority. On the 9th of November 1965, the Murder (Abolition of Death Penalty) Act suspended the death penalty for murder in the United Kingdom for a period of 5 years. On the 16th of December 1969, the House of Commons reaffirmed its decision that capital punishment for murder should be permanently abolished. Theoretically the death penalty continued in Northern Ireland until the passing of the Northern Ireland (Emergency Powers) Act 1973.

From Quiz Chain Gangs in the USA

Answer: Alabama

Followed closely by Florida and Arizona. Limestone Correctional Facility, near Huntsville, was the first site of this revived prison practice.

From Quiz Executions in the U.S.

Answer: fifty

Of those executed, eight women were hanged, seven died in the gas chamber, nine received lethal injections, and 26 were electrocuted.

From Quiz Crime and Punishment...in Ancient Rome

Answer: Clubbing the convict to death.

It would seem that this kind of thing happened often? Table VIII prescribes this punishment for a lyrical law-breaker. Most countries today would treat this, at worst, as a civil matter.

From Quiz Crime and Punishment in the 20th Century

Answer: Bruno Richard Hauptmann

A lot of people believe Hauptmann to be innocent. I disagree with them but you should look into the case and decide for yourself. I recommend starting with either "The Lindbergh Case" by Jim Fisher or "The Airman and the Carpenter" by Ludovic Kennedy. The case remains fascinating today.

From Quiz The Death Sentence in 20th Century Britain

Answer: August 1964

21 year old Peter Anthony Allen and 24 year old Gwynne Owen Evans (real name John Robson Walby) were simultaneously hanged on 13 August 1964, for the murder and robbery of John West at Workington in April 1964. Peter Allen was hanged at Walton Prison, Liverpool and Gwynne Evans at Strangeways Prison, Manchester. They were taken to separate prisons after their trial at Manchester on 7 July 1964 because double executions (that is, the use of double gallows) were no longer carried out. However, double gallows were used on 13 December 1945 at a prison in Hameln, in the British Zone of Germany, with Albert Pierrepoint as executioner. He had the task of hanging 13 people convicted by a British Military Court of a wide range of appalling crimes at the end of the Belsen trial). The last death sentence was passed on David Chapman at Leeds on 1st November 1965 but he was subsequently reprieved and his sentence commuted to life in prison. The Murder (Abolition of Death Penalty) Act passed on 8 November 1965, effectively abolished capital punishment. Parliament confirmed the abolition of capital punishment for murder in December 1969.

From Quiz Imperfect Crimes

Answer: A pair of eyeglasses

A pair of eyeglasses that belonged to Leopold were found near the scene of the crime; Leopold had inadvertently lost them. They instantly became suspects - and ultimately ended up in jail for a long time.

From Quiz The St. Valentine's Day Massacre

Answer: Feb. 14, 1929

One of the most famous dates in U.S. history.

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