Historically, convicted criminals paid executioners to prevent botched executions and gain access to better conditions. Family members of military criminals were sometimes billed for execution expenses. In modern times, paying executioners is not customary and the process is often shrouded in anonymity. The idea of some criminals being able to pay while others can’t raises issues of classism.
Depending on the country and era, convicted criminals actually paid off the executioners, usually in an effort to prevent a botched execution. The popular legend that criminals tipped the executioner is not true, however, and the custom of paying the executioner has historically waxed and waned. Most commonly, convicted criminals bribed prison guards and guards to gain access to more comfortable cells and to obtain permission to import special food, books, and other diversions to entertain themselves in anticipation of execution day.
When the guillotine was first introduced, some convicted criminals paid executioners to sharpen the blade, ensuring a quick and relatively merciful end. Even prisoners sentenced to be beheaded in certain eras in England paid their executioners, demanding execution in one fell swoop. In both senses, the payment was more like a bribe than a specific fee for services rendered, so to speak. The executioners, as a rule, were not paid, and with firing squads too.
Sometimes, family members also received execution bills, most commonly in the case of military executions in the 18th and 19th centuries. In these cases, the family could be ordered to pay for the hanging rope or bullets used by the firing squad, along with the soldier’s uniform. Sending a bill for execution was designed to act as an additional deterrent to members of the military who view crimes as punishable by execution.
In the modern era, it is not customary for those sentenced to death to pay the executioners. Indeed, some criminals never meet their executioners. In Western nations that maintain the death penalty as punishment, such as the United States, the process is shrouded in anonymity due to social stigma, with executioners typically hiding the nature of their work from all but a few close friends and family members. In countries where the death penalty is practiced more openly, such as some Asian and Middle Eastern countries, it would still be unusual for criminals to pay executioners.
Historically, executioners were usually paid by their clients, for lack of a better term, when their regular pay was usually very low. The idea that some criminals can pay while others don’t raises the interesting and horrific specter of classism that lingers even on the gallows, because it suggests that if criminals didn’t pay their executioners, execution might be less humane.
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