THE STORY OF THE CROSS AND CRUCIFIXION

Capital punishment was widely applied in ancient times; it can be found (c.1750 B.C.) in the Code of Hammurabi. From the fall of Rome to the beginnings of the modern era, capital punishment was practiced throughout Western Europe. The modern movement for the abolition of capital punishment began in the 18th cent. with the writings of Montesquieu and Voltaire, as well as Cesare Beccaria's Essay on Crimes and Punishments (1764). In Great Britain, Jeremy Bentham was influential in having the number of capital crimes reduced in the 18th and 19th cent. Some of the first countries to abolish capital punishment included Venezuela (1863), San Marino (1865), and Costa Rica (1877).

Current International Practice
As of 2004, 81 countries had entirely abolished the death penalty, including the members of the European Union. Some other countries retained capital punishment only for treason and war crimes, while in others, death remained a penalty at law, though in practice there had not been any executions for decades. Among countries that retained the death penalty for ordinary crimes were many in the Caribbean, Africa, and Asia. The United States and China were believed to impose capital punishment most frequently.
In the United States
Since the 1970s almost all capital sentences in the United States have been imposed for homicide. There has been intense debate regarding the constitutionality, effect, and humanity of capital punishment; critics charge that executions are carried out inconsistently, or, more broadly, that they violate the cruel and unusual punishment provision of the Eighth Amendment. Supporters of the death penalty counter that this clause was not intended to prohibit executions. In the 1972 case of Furman v. Georgia, the U.S. Supreme Court ruled that capital punishment as then practiced was unconstitutional, because it was applied disproportionately to certain classes of defendants, notably those who were black or poor. This ruling voided the federal and state death penalty laws then in effect but left the way open for Congress or state legislatures to enact new capital punishment laws, a process that began almost immediate
From Columbia Encyclopedia.
Execution by Crucifixion as described in the Bible. Cross: S# 4716 Greek “staruros” NT:4716 “denotes, primarily, "an upright pale or stake." On such malefactors were nailed for execution. Both the noun and the verb stauroo, "to fasten to a stake or pale," are originally to be distinguished from the ecclesiastical form of a two beamed "cross." The shape of the latter had its origin in ancient Chaldea, and was used as the symbol of the god Tammuz (being in the shape of the mystic Tau, the initial of his name) in that country and in adjacent lands, including Egypt. By the middle of the 3 rd cent. A.D. the churches had either departed from, or had travestied, certain doctrines of the Christian faith. In order to increase the prestige of the apostate ecclesiastical system pagans were received into the churches apart from regeneration by faith, and were permitted largely to retain their pagan signs and symbols. Hence the Tau or T, in its most frequent form, with the cross-piece lowered, was adopted to stand for the "cross" of Christ“.
(from Vine's Expository Dictionary of Biblical Words, Copyright © 1985, Thomas Nelson Publishers.)
The word cross is used 27 times in the N.T. First by Jesus in Matt. 10:38 and 16:24. See also Mk. 8:34 and 10:21 and Lk. 9:23 and 14:27. In these scriptures Jesus is speaking about “bearing the burden or the persecution of becoming a Christian and not bearing a “Physical Cross”. This could also require death by crucifixion, stoning or some other method of taking life.
A great error was permitted in enter into the Church Doctrine of the cross @ 213 A.D. when the Roman Emperor Caesar Flavius Valerius Aurelius Constantinus Augustus[2] (27 February c. 272[1] – 22 May 337), commonly known in English as Constantine I, or Constantine the great professed his conversion to the Christian Faith after seeing a vision of a “flaming Cross in the sky and hearing a voice saying; “By this sign you will conquer the world”. He had the sign of the Cross placed on the “Battle Flag” and the shields of his soldiers and began his conquest in the name of Jesus. The Roman Church soon adopted this symbol as a rallying sign for the Church. After the Protestant movement began no one was concerned about the “true story of the cross” and different designs were admitted into the different sects of the Christian faith.
See below:
Cross

1. The forms in which the cross is represented are these:

1. The crux simplex (I), a "single piece without transom."

2. The crux decussata (X), or St. Andrew's cross.

3. The crux commissa (T), or St. Anthony's cross.

4. The crux immissa (t), or Latin cross
(from Easton's Bible Dictionary, PC Study Bible formatted electronic database Copyright © 2003, 2006 Biblesoft, Inc. All rights reserved.)
The Punishment;
There were various methods of performing the execution. Usually, the condemned man, after being whipped, or “scourged,” dragged the crossbeam of his cross to the place of punishment, where the upright shaft was already fixed in the ground. Stripped of his clothing either then or earlier at his scourging, he was bound fast with outstretched arms to the crossbeam or nailed firmly to it through the wrists. The crossbeam was then raised high against the upright shaft and made fast to it about 9 to 12 feet (approximately 3 metres) from the ground. Next, the feet were tightly bound or nailed to the upright shaft. A ledge inserted about halfway up the upright shaft gave some support to the body; evidence for a similar ledge for the feet is rare and late. Over the criminal’s head was placed a notice stating his name and his crime. Death, apparently caused by exhaustion or by heart failure, could be hastened by shattering the legs (crurifragium) with an iron club, so that shock and asphyxiation soon ended his life.
With much prayer and study of the Word I am fully convinced of the fact that Jesus was Crucified as a common criminal on a “tree or pole” and the Church has no need to “enhance or elaborate” on the story. Let’s just teach and preach the word as it was written in the Book. John 12:32-33 “And I, if I be lifted up from the earth, will draw all men unto me. This he said, signifying what death he should die“.