What happened at the nation's first nitrogen gas execution: An AP eyewitness account
What happened at the nation's first nitrogen gas execution: An AP eyewitness account
Witnesses watched through a window at an Alabama prison as Kenneth Eugene Smith became the nation's first person to be put to death using nitrogen gas.
a backwoods facility completely failed to perform the activity correctly. they tortured this guy to death, either because they are morons, or they are evil. pick one. but it wasnt the methods fault.
There was no way to perform the execution correctly. N2 asphyxiation makes no sense as an execution method -- it will only be painless if the person didn't realize what was about to happen or if they were cooperative. If not, it'll mean the person will fight until death. They will be put in a situation of endlessly expanding pain until they can bear it no more.
The idea that an execution method is humane if it would be painless for a cooperative victim, ignoring the experience that will be had be an uncooperative victim, is just... really dumb. It's incredibly dumb.
Dumb comment. The truth of the matter is, the person will just pass out if done properly. Is it a psychological horror? Sure. But it's not "painful" like death by slow hanging painful.
I'm yet to read the article, but if something went wrong, it was not the method, but the humans executing the method.
My understanding is that the feeling of suffocation is only due to a build up of CO2. So filling a room (or a mask I guess in this case) should not cause that feeling. Existential dread, fear, etc are obviously not affected, but it shouldn't feel like they're being strangled and can't breathe.
You're right though, in that obviously doing something inhumane such as killing people can't be made humane. Its a paradox. And with our system specifically, I don't think there is a way to do the death penalty "right" because the system isn't just. Or even effective and logical.
This murder technique is not researched enough and is obviously going off assumptions and not the truth of the matter.
State-sanctioned murder is never ok.
Never? All the executions that happened from the Nuremberg trials were wrong then?
I'm personally not shedding a tear for Quisling, nor would I have shed one if Anders Breivik had shared his fate.
What are the chances that the preferred method for assisted suicide in some countries is “cruel and unusual punishment”?
Should we allow the state to kill people? No.
Is this particular method the least cruel/painful? I think that’s likely.
Is this particular method the least cruel/painful? I think that’s likely.
This method can be the "least cruel". The coverage on this story kind of sucks. Apparently they didn't allow for a way for CO2 to escape this he felt the sensation of suffocating as it happened. Had they done that or just flooded the whole room with nitrogen then it would be the "least cruel" method of execution.
I put "least cruel" in quotes because on this issue we tend to mash cruelty in with messiness even though they have nothing to do with each other. Shotgun to the upper brain stem (or something like it ) is probably the truly least cruel method. No time for suffering, consciousness just ends.
We could also just not do capital punishment but that's not happening so here we are.
Where is it a preferred method? I think it's approved in one country but is it actually preferred or recommended by doctors anywhere?
There's nothing described here that is inconsistent with "he held his breath as long as possible".
That is the major flaw with this method of execution. The person can choose to hold their breath and be absolutely miserable for several minutes before they involuntarily breathe in the nitrogen.
Ok. This is a scenario that, while obvious, didn't think of before. Man, that sucks.
Show me an untrained person that can hold their breath “for several minutes”.
I probably could if, y'know, my life depended on it.
Me. It seems to vary a lot, but I managed to get 2 and a half minutes a few months ago. Most of the time I average about a minute though.
Pretty much everyone can.
Most people stop when it starts to hurt, but it takes several minutes of holding your breath before you pass out.
Please do just like, a hair of research before saying random shit like it's true.
Smith began to shake and writhe violently, in thrashing spasms and seizure-like movements, at about 7:58 p.m. The force of his movements caused the gurney to visibly move at least once. Smith’s arms pulled against the against the straps holding him to the gurney. He lifted his head off the gurney the gurney and then fell back.
Fucking barbaric.
Obligatory:
The False Evolution of Execution Methods
Edit: wtf…..
Alabama Attorney General Steve Marshall, however, characterized it on Friday as a “textbook” execution.
The textbook requires cruelty.
At least they can just suck all the nitrogen back out of him if they find that there was a miscarriage of justice later on.
"Humane" execution isn't good, not only because execution is bad, and the pretense of a more humane method is just sugar coating, but also like 95% of people in support of death penalty just want to see a human being killed, with almost all of them are angry at how it's doesn't involve torture. The worst of this kind legit fantasize about murdering PoC kids as bloodsport, under the pretense of "upholding the law".
For fuck’s sake. Are you telling me Americans, of all people Americans, are now too stupid to kill?
What’s with these crazy new execution methods? Just shoot the guy. It’s not like you didn’t have a hundred thousand cops trained to kill on sight.
Because we’re uncomfortable with calmly and premeditatedly shooting someone. Capital punishment isn’t wildly popular here, it’s still controversial
Abolish capital punishment.
They're not accustomed to shooting actual criminals.
Any state that allows this should force the governor to carry out the execution personally
So the guy was guilty perhaps but we have to realize that what was done was a recreation of the Nazi extermination final solution. I fear this. It didn't work as smoothly as they planned but it sort of worked. So will that mean that we will slowly accept this as normal vs banning the practice altogether?
How did his victim feel when he murdered her? If this monster suffered for a few minutes, so be it.
The number of people who have been released after decades in prison after modern forensic techniques (e.g. DNA analysis) have proven the convicted person was innocent shows why execution should never be used. Better that a guilty person spend a life in jail instead of be executed than an innocent person be executed by mistake.
This case was even better. The sentencing jury voted to give him life without parole. The state appealed that and a judge overturned the life sentence to give him a death sentence.
Why do we even have a jury?
So, are we to be his equal? A society that feels comfortable killing its fellow human beings painfully. Or do we aspire to be better. To not seek revenge but merely to minimize harm done.
And does the 8th amendment matter anymore? Does it still stand? Cruelty as we execute surely must violate it.
Violence begets more violence. Every time. Killing this person does nothing to bring back the woman they killed, and just pisses off even more people.
That's your opinion. I would hazard a guess that more people support the execution of violent murderers than oppose it.