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‘Astonishingly cruel’: Alabama seeks to test execution method on death row ‘guinea pig’ (www.theguardian.com)
submitted 2 years ago by to c/politics@lemmy.world
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Nine months after Kenneth Smith’s botched lethal injection, state attorney general has asked for approval to kill him with nitrogen

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[–] 28 points 2 years ago (1 child)

Yes, there are other species that react negatively to hypoxic environments:

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Inert_gas_asphyxiation

But the idea with using it on humans is that we don't react negatively. We don't even feel like we're suffocating, like with excessive CO2. Nitrogen is plentiful and is already being used for legal suicide elsewhere, which is why they're wanting to use it.

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  • [–] 3 points 2 years ago* (last edited 2 years ago)

    Just posting this as an addendum to the information from the comment above. There is a 3D printed device called a Sarco Pod that has been developed for assisted suicides. As far as I know, it has yet to be deployed. However, it seems likely that it will be in the near future.

    The prevailing objections to the death penalty appear to stem from the nature of the methods that have been utilized. I wonder if the sentiment would change if receiving the death penalty was effectively painless, and nearly instantaneous via one of these pods?

    At that point you could certainly make an argument for life in prison being a significantly harsher, elongated, and cruel sentence. Just some food for thought.

    https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sarco_pod

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