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Henry VIII the ruler of England from 1509 to 1547 prescribed the death penalty for anyone who imagined the death of the King. During the 18th century, the number of capital crimes grew to 300 and it is felt that executions reflected "God's law" and were necessary for maintaining order. In France, the method of execution was intended to match the crime and the convict's social rank. Those such as noblemen, of a higher rank were afforded with the most refined death, which is being beheaded by the sword. People of lower rank, however, were faced with being boiled alive, burned and beaten to death. Over the last 200 years, execution methods have changes as society has sought to make the process more "civilized and less painful." However, those cannot be changed because there is no civilized way of killing; killing is killing. .
In 1789, Dr. Joseph Guillotin presented the use of the guillotine, a device where a large blade will chop off the head of the condemned. This method became the standard method of execution in France until it was abolished in 1981. At the request of Dr. Alfred Porter Southwick's, a modern method of execution was invented: death by electrocution. The condemned person was to be strapped into a chair, electrodes were placed on his head, spine and leg and a massive dose of electric current was applied for about 20 seconds. The invention was meant to kill a person quickly and painlessly and it became the standard method of execution in France until capital punishment The name of his invention was the electric chair. .
The death penalty has seen its greatest use during wars and revolutions. For example, during the French Revolution, about 17,000 to 40,000 people were killed among those were Queen Marie Antoinette and King Louis XVI. In the United States, people of lower social and economic rank usually face execution more often than those who are rich or of high social standings.