I once had a Syrian friend who told of witnessing the public executions of two men convicted of raping a 12 year old girl. One of the guilty men was married and thus also guilty of adultery. The punishment for which was stoning carried out by the public.
My friend said that usually the members of the public pick up small stones and toss them, fulfilling their civic duty in a perfunctory manner. When the prosecutors brought out the little girl, the crowd became enraged and began tearing up paving blocks & cobblestones to throw at the condemned man. He said this was actually a bit more merciful in that it was a much quicker death than usual.
The other criminal was not married, so the penalty was beheading. Just before the executioner did his work, once again the prosecutor brought out the little girl. The executioner has two swords, one his trusty, very sharp workday sword and the other his gilded and engraved ceremonial sword.
When he saw the little girl, he set aside his workday sword and instead used his duller-than-a-butter-knife ceremonial sword to carry out the execution. Instead of one swift blow it took several to complete the task.
In MODERN DAY America we have memorials for the Criminal...ignoring the Victim