On Jan. 25, the Alabama Department of Corrections (ADOC) plans to execute Kenneth Smith by forcing him to breathe pure nitrogen gas, an untested execution method with profound legal and ethical conseq...
If you read this article, start from the halfway point. The first half is absolute fluff.
Arguments against:
The executed needs to breathe. Author believes this will cause stress as they may attempt to hold their breath.
An ill fitted mask for nitrogen delivery may be a safety concern for occupants in the same room. Article did not have details on how much nitrogen is delivered or how much would be need to impact a small room.
if an execution fails, first responders may have difficulty treating the patient due to the prevalence of nitrogen gas.
When terminated by nitrogen, a study found mice elicit a fear response indicating that more research is needed before using this as an ethical means of terminating mice… or people.
Author also argues that since other states don’t use this method, it shouldn’t be used… which feels more like a chicken and egg problem.
The thing is, we already know exactly how nitrogen affects humans, and we know due to industrial accidents.
I’ll preface this next part by saying that I don’t think the death penalty should exist at all, and that when you give the State the power to kill, that power will be abused.
So, addressing the author’s “concerns”;
You can only hold your breath for so long. The stress of doing so would be no worse than the stress of knowing you’re being executed. You can make the exact same stress argument about any form of execution.
Ill fitting masks are a concern, but nitrogen by itself is not a concern in a well ventilated room. The prisoner dies, not because of the nitrogen itself, but because the nitrogen displaces oxygen. Normal air is about 78% nitrogen. Any other concerns can be alleviated by having oxygen sensors in the room.
Saving someone from nitrogen hypoxia is actually pretty easy if you get to them quickly. And again, a well ventilated room means that it will be completely safe for everyone (except the guy wearing the mask)
Mice are not humans. Humans cannot tell when there’s more nitrogen than there should be. That’s why nitrogen is so dangerous in an industrial setting.
Basically, the author comes off as having failed every basic science class they ever took.
I don’t know enough about the finer details of this topic to say what is right or wrong, but I was hoping to be educated by the article… which felt like it was just thrown together without proper due diligence… or editing.
If you read this article, start from the halfway point. The first half is absolute fluff.
Arguments against:
Author also argues that since other states don’t use this method, it shouldn’t be used… which feels more like a chicken and egg problem.
The thing is, we already know exactly how nitrogen affects humans, and we know due to industrial accidents.
I’ll preface this next part by saying that I don’t think the death penalty should exist at all, and that when you give the State the power to kill, that power will be abused.
So, addressing the author’s “concerns”;
You can only hold your breath for so long. The stress of doing so would be no worse than the stress of knowing you’re being executed. You can make the exact same stress argument about any form of execution.
Ill fitting masks are a concern, but nitrogen by itself is not a concern in a well ventilated room. The prisoner dies, not because of the nitrogen itself, but because the nitrogen displaces oxygen. Normal air is about 78% nitrogen. Any other concerns can be alleviated by having oxygen sensors in the room.
Saving someone from nitrogen hypoxia is actually pretty easy if you get to them quickly. And again, a well ventilated room means that it will be completely safe for everyone (except the guy wearing the mask)
Mice are not humans. Humans cannot tell when there’s more nitrogen than there should be. That’s why nitrogen is so dangerous in an industrial setting.
Basically, the author comes off as having failed every basic science class they ever took.
I don’t know enough about the finer details of this topic to say what is right or wrong, but I was hoping to be educated by the article… which felt like it was just thrown together without proper due diligence… or editing.
Yeah, the author seems to be a complete dipshit.
Yes, you can argue that the death penalty is bad. I often do just that.
I don’t make up bullshit that’s so easy to disprove in order to push my point.
The author is doing more harm than good here.
Since it has never before been used for state sanctioned murder, we should be careful about how we apply it, and make all efforts to avoid mistakes
I think that holds true whether or not it’s been used before. So, I agree.