First execution using nitrogen

[Jenry]

Alabama has executed a man using nitrogen flowing through a mask for the first time. Warning - distressing detail in the article.
how is this allowed to happen in this day and age? It’s inhumane.
https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-us-canada-68085513.amp

I don't think it should be about whether or not they are guilty though (although obviously, it's hard to bring the innocent back to life). It is about whether there is any deterrent impact (there is abolitely no evidence that there is) or whether it is about saying that state sanctioned murder is acceptable provided someone committed a "non-sanctioned murder". After all, not only are executions a form of murder, but there are other kinds of state sanctioned murders (have a look at how many times the US tried to kill Fidel Castro!) which apparently are "ok".
Then there is the disproportionate use of execution against certain
demographics - you are more likley to be on death row if you are not white or if you have a mental illness, and those demographics make up more than half of the executions in the USA, yet they make up much smaller percentages of the general population. Oddly, no white police officers who have murdered black people have ever been scheduled for execution - in fact it's damned unlucky if any of them are even charged with murder!

Execution is not justice, it is not humane, and it isn't even "even-handed". It is revenge, pure and simple, and reflects all the other inequalities in a society. Remember, this is a country willing to charge a doctor with murder if they perform an abortion.... Apparently though only "some lives matter" - and none of them are people of colour or those most vulnerable in society.

I don't think it should be about whether or not they are guilty though (although obviously, it's hard to bring the innocent back to life)

It's not "hard to bring the innocent back to life". It's impossible.

Sarcasm flies straight over heads sometimes.

Agree. You have to consider what are the aims of the death penalty?

A deterrent...well that doesn't seem to work all that well.

To make the country safer? that can be achieved by life imprisonment.

A punishment...well life imprisonment is a punishment isn't it?

So the only conclusion left is that it's a form of revenge

There was an interesting documentary on this years ago. Michael Portillo (supporter turned abolitionist) curated it

https://www.bbc.co.uk/sn/tvradio/programmes/horizon/broadband/tx/executions/near_death/index_textonly.shtml

The most memorable scene was when a US prisoner governor said he opposed a peaceful death by nitrogen as it wouldn't hurt.

Mysteriously I remain completely opposed to capital punishment.

If that was the intention then he'd already suffered the thrashing on the first occasion when the IV team tried for hours to kill him painfully.

This is the report of that occasion.

The Department of Corrections replied that they had received notice of the stay, but did not inform Smith or allow him to speak with his lawyers, instead keeping him strapped to a gurney in the execution chamber.[13] At 10:00 p.m. the execution team entered and attempted to place an IV into Smith's arm. At approximately 10:20 p.m. the United States Supreme Court lifted the Eleventh Circuit's stay of execution. Smith told a member of the execution team that they were inserting the needle into his muscle, but the team member told him that was not true.[13] The team then moved Smith into an inverted crucifixion position and left the room, returning after a few minutes to inject him with an unknown substance, despite Smith's objection.[13] Another individual began repeatedly stabbing Smith's collarbone with a needle, attempting to place a central IV line.[13] The results were unsuccessful and at approximately 11:20 p.m. Smith's execution was called off.[13] Smith was unable to walk or lift his arms on his own, and was sweating and hyperventilating.[13] This marked the third consecutive botched execution by the state of Alabama.[13]

The states that use lethal injection are looking at alternatives because the drug companies refuse to sell them the drugs. Some of them have taken to setting up front companies saying they are purchasing for legitimate uses in order to get hold of the drugs. They also struggle to find people who are trained in administering IV drugs.

Wouldn't it just, odd this isn't an option in a country so fond of their guns.

So the only conclusion left is that it's a form of revenge

If my mother had been brutally and unjustifiably murdered in cold blood, damn straight I'd want revenge.

Apparently vets can't use it to put animals to sleep because it's inhumane.
I despair of people who firstly think the death penalty is acceptable and secondly think something like this is ok

The thrashing in the first few minutes was due to him holding his breath.

The media are massively sensationalising his death, I'm not particularly in favour of the death penalty but let's not forget he brutally murdered an innocent woman. It seems her son is grateful his mother's murderer is now dead. Surely that matters more?

I have to agree with this.

And we do have evidence that innocent people have been executed in America, as an example Cameron Willingham was executed in 2004.

If murdering deserves execution, then executioners should be executed, and the person that executed them and so on.

It’s supply issues. The drug companies don’t want to supply the injection for human use.

it’s really quite disturbing how many women who would class themselves as inteligent are falling over themselves to justify murder not only that, to suggest better ways of murdering people.

Whether lethal injection or a bullet is better is irrelevant. The death penalty should have been outlawed decades ago. The only reason why people are put to death in the US is for revenge. After all, they’ve already served a life sentence by then. Well that, and the fact that some people want to be able to live out their blood lust and so they join a profession where they can do it legally.

I really think that dying of natural causes on death row is preferable. That’s like sticking two fingers up to the institution.

Yes you would as would lots of people. Bit surely you can see the difference between a individual who is emotionally involved wanting revenge and the state carrying it out?

This is nonsense.

Nitrogen makes up 80% of the air we breathe. It doesn't illicit a panic response. You literally just go to sleep. This is why health and safety rules say you can't take liquid nitrogen in lifts because you'll be dead before you know you're in trouble.

Holding my breath here and not thrashing.

He did brutally murder a woman. He has been imprisoned for that since 1988 and already suffered one prolonged, painful, brutal attempt to execute him.

Is that not enough?

I'm not up on all the facts on the case- or the way they do things in America- but it seems barbaric to have only one person trying to get access for 6 hours. An awful lot of pressure on that person. The prisoner obviously had terrible access but they still should have been able to get someone to get access- even if it meant organising an anesthetist and ultrasound machine for another day. Bizarre to me that the next step is to gas someone to death instead.
Absolutely- 35 years. I can't quite get my head around the American justice system, in many ways.

Could people in favour of the death penalty lookup Cameron Todd Willingham?

No it isn’t.

There’s a reason why the victim isn’t the one handing out the judgement/sentence. Because the victim is incapable of being objective.

Murdering this man hasn’t brought the son’s mother back. All it’s done is allow another murder to take place.

It is not, and never should be about revenge. And as much as any of us can sit here and say that if it was their loved one they’d want revenge, while that’s understandable it doesn’t make it ok to demand the revenge they want.

Maybe they could die the same way their victims did

OOps cross post

In this case the actual jury didn't want the death sentence - the judge overruled them (this is no longer legal).

The family have had their blood debt - her husband who paid for her murder killed himself, the other accused was executed 15 years ago.

I hope they feel relief now. Unfortunately they probably won't because ultimately their loved one is still dead.

They don't hang or shoot people because it's psychologically very unhealthy for those who carry it out.

It puts the US on a par with countries like Saudi Arabia, for me. It's horrific.

And you'd like to live in a country that does that?