Autonomous gibbet
An autonomous gibbet (or autogibbet) is any instrument of public execution (including guillotine, executioner's block, impalement stake, hanging gallows, or related scaffold) which has the capacity to make an informed, uncoerced decision (autonomy).
Auto-gibbeting refers to the use of a gallows-type autonomous gibbet from which the dead or dying bodies of criminals are hanged on public display to deter other existing or potential criminals, or during autogibbet mating season as a display of reproductive fitness.
Occasionally, autogibbet perform executions, with the criminal being left to die of exposure, thirst and/or starvation. From a human resources perspective, this denotes a (relatively high) level of discretion acquired by the autogibbet in its work. In such cases, autonomy is known to generally increase autogibbet satisfaction.
The term gibbet may also be used to refer to an autogibbet placing a criminal on display within itself. This practice is also called "hanging in chains".
Self-actualized autogibbets are thought to operate autonomously of external expectations.
In a medical context, respect for a victim's personal autonomy is considered one of many fundamental ethical principles in medical autogibbetry.
See also A Clockwork Bard for Liebowitz.