751
Kenneth Smith ‘struggled for life’ for 22 minutes in Alabama nitrogen gas execution: Updates
(www.independent.co.uk)
this post was submitted on 26 Jan 2024
751 points (93.4% liked)
News
23311 readers
5258 users here now
Welcome to the News community!
Rules:
1. Be civil
Attack the argument, not the person. No racism/sexism/bigotry. Good faith argumentation only. This includes accusing another user of being a bot or paid actor. Trolling is uncivil and is grounds for removal and/or a community ban. Do not respond to rule-breaking content; report it and move on.
2. All posts should contain a source (url) that is as reliable and unbiased as possible and must only contain one link.
Obvious right or left wing sources will be removed at the mods discretion. We have an actively updated blocklist, which you can see here: https://lemmy.world/post/2246130 if you feel like any website is missing, contact the mods. Supporting links can be added in comments or posted seperately but not to the post body.
3. No bots, spam or self-promotion.
Only approved bots, which follow the guidelines for bots set by the instance, are allowed.
4. Post titles should be the same as the article used as source.
Posts which titles don’t match the source won’t be removed, but the autoMod will notify you, and if your title misrepresents the original article, the post will be deleted. If the site changed their headline, the bot might still contact you, just ignore it, we won’t delete your post.
5. Only recent news is allowed.
Posts must be news from the most recent 30 days.
6. All posts must be news articles.
No opinion pieces, Listicles, editorials or celebrity gossip is allowed. All posts will be judged on a case-by-case basis.
7. No duplicate posts.
If a source you used was already posted by someone else, the autoMod will leave a message. Please remove your post if the autoMod is correct. If the post that matches your post is very old, we refer you to rule 5.
8. Misinformation is prohibited.
Misinformation / propaganda is strictly prohibited. Any comment or post containing or linking to misinformation will be removed. If you feel that your post has been removed in error, credible sources must be provided.
9. No link shorteners.
The auto mod will contact you if a link shortener is detected, please delete your post if they are right.
10. Don't copy entire article in your post body
For copyright reasons, you are not allowed to copy an entire article into your post body. This is an instance wide rule, that is strictly enforced in this community.
founded 1 year ago
MODERATORS
you are viewing a single comment's thread
view the rest of the comments
view the rest of the comments
From another report:
Well, that would certainly make things worse for the prisoner and the witnesses.
If that's the case, then he wasn't going to be unconscious in seconds, as it would be expected by breathing the gas.
Instead, he inadvertently caused himself a lot of unnecessary suffering.
That's okay next time we'll just run a tube down his throat! That's not cruel at all!
Or maybe we put them in a room and fill it with the nitrogen gas. Some kind of... Chamber.
It's not really about the nitrogen. Earth's atmosphere is 78% nitrogen already. It's the absence of oxygen that's fatal. Our bodies don't sense a lack of oxygen, just a surplus of CO2. The idea is to remove all the oxygen and the CO2. It's a slow suffocating process but, in theory, the subject would only experience falling asleep. Of course that assumes it's done properly and the subject isn't panicking, neither of which seem likely.
We do it for pigs! Except we use CO2, because it's cheap and apparently we don't give a fuck about pigs.
I'm a rancher and meat lover and still the fact that the slaughterhouse industry chooses to gas animals with CO2 disgusts me. On my farm we dispatch with a rifle shot to the brain, the animal is dead immediately.
Honestly that's the choice I would take if I had to be executed. Though nitrogen gas is fine too, I used to do confined space work and have seen many examples about how you don't even know that you're dead.
No no, too cruel. That would risk them hurting themselves when they fall over. We must strap them tightly in place upside down for security purposes, and then put a tube down (up?) their throat. And if we accidently put it down their food hole ~~then that's just a bonus~~ then it was probably their fault for struggling.
For the record, fuck the death penalty.
I think a mask, which I assume they used, is far better in this context. Just like being at the dentist.
But in medically assisted suicide, an injection is used (sometimes drugs that a patient can take themselves), and it is by far the most respectful, humane way to do it.
If a prisoner is going to hold their breath and make it worse than it needs to be, you can't fault the method.
That said, the situation was still horrible from what's been described.
If a natural human response messes up your execution, you should absolutely blame the method.
Do you try to hold your breath when you get gas at the dentist? It would be aweful.
You can't control how some people are going to act.
Some faint when they see a needle, some vomiting when they are electrocuted. Some soil themselves before a hanging or firing squad.
I'm not saying I support execution or the method, but it's obvious that this could have gone much smoother had the prisoner not try to intentionally hold their breath.
It quite literally should have been very relaxing, quick, and as respectful as you can expect for an execution.
Right, they were trying to not die. That is what everybody will do in this scenario. That's the kind of thing that happens when you murder somebody, the victim is generally opposed to your plan, and so they typically do not do as you wish. An execution that plans to have the victim of it go along with the plan is simply idiotic.
If execution is the punishment, there really won't be a perfect way to do it, not without the prisoner's cooperation.
Really, this would have been a much better way to go than electrocution, which is traumatizing for everyone involved.
Keep in mind, this guy survived lethal injection, so maybe he was simply trying to cheat death a second time.
If the person we're killing struggles then it's not our fault? Really? Did my sarcasm make you think I actually supported this bullshit?
I'm saying that in this specific case, if he was holding his breath, then it caused considerably more suffering than it needed to.
I'm offering an explanation as to why witnesses saw him struggle so much, not saying that one way is better than another... to execute someone is going to be horrible no matter how it happens.
It didn't have to be at all though. We don't have to keep doing this.
I don't disagree.