State’s ‘slow and agonizing’ execution of Kenneth Smith using an untested method labeled as cruel by experts and advocates

Smith’s execution by “nitrogen hypoxia” took around 22 minutes, according to media witnesses, who were led into a viewing room at the William C Holman correctional facility in Atmore shortly before 8 pm local time.

  • usualsuspect191
    4·
    11 months ago

    This isn’t a poisonous gas we’re talking about. Air is 78% nitrogen… A leak is of little concern unless it’s somehow so large that it’s displacing oxygen enough to cause oxygen deprivation.

    A blade for throat-slitting feels like it’d be a larger danger to those administering, never mind the clean-up/biohazard concerns.

    • FfaerieOxide@kbin.social
      1·
      11 months ago

      This isn’t a poisonous gas we’re talking about. Air is 78% nitrogen

      Apparently it’s deadly enough to kill at least 1 guy. You also can’t see it.

      I would say the risk of a gas spreading and affecting more than an intended target is greater than the risk someone will accidentally stab themselves in the head.

      You raise a good point about fluids, but I think the danger from that can be mitigated with protective clothing to a greater degree than the next safest (for the administrator) option of a bullet can have its inherent danger of exploding at or near the wrong place be mitigated.

      • Pigeon@beehaw.org
        1·
        11 months ago

        Idk that I agree with Nitrogen leaks being a big concern - I don’t know enough for certain to say one way or another really - but supposing they are a risk, regardless I think the biggest risk to the executioners or viewers is the psychological one.

        Even convulsions after death that truly aren’t experienced by the convict can still greatly disturb the people who see them. Plus, in general, the psychological toll of systematically killing people who can’t fight back as one’s ‘mundane’ job. It’s gotta fuck people up. Maybe along the lines of how drone pilots - who effectively go to war, but who aren’t surrounded by fellow soldiers all the time like regular soldiers, but instead who go home every to friends and family who aren’t at war, causing prolonged feelings of alienation and separation that tend to hit regular soldiers only after they come home from deployment - end up with a lot of ptsd problems.