BACKGROUND
Kenneth Eugene Smith, who was hired to murder Elizabeth Dorlene Sennett in 1988, will be executed with the first ever use of nitrogen to deprive the body of oxygen TOMORROW at 6pm CST in Atmore, Alabama. In November 2022, he was strapped to a gurney for over an hour, waiting for his lethal injection execution. It could not be done due to state officials unable to find a vein. After this, Smith advocated for his own execution by nitrogen hypoxia.
CONTROVERSY
Despite Smith himself asking for the method of execution, many people met on the steps of the Alabama State Capitol to protest this, calling it 'mental torture' and a 'gas chamber.' During the hearing to discuss whether it should be done, Alabama Solicitor General Edmund LaCour said it was βthe most humane method of execution ever devised.β
On the opposing side, Bernard Simelton, a member of the national committee of the NAACP, said at Tuesday's demonstration that the United Nations commissioner for human rights recently warned Smith's execution βcould amount to torture or other cruel, inhuman or degrading treatment or punishment under international human rights law.β
βThis is a sad day for the state of Alabama,β Simelton stated. βWe ask Governor Ivey to have a last-minute change of heart and do the right thing and halt this execution. The state does not understand the horror that this individual will go through. This is an experiment and we do not experiment on people.β
SCIENCE OF INERT GAS ASPHYXIATION
Nitrogen, as well as helium, argon, and methane, are able to reduce oxygen concentration in the blood, possibly causing effects at only one to two breaths. These include:
Unconsciousness
Low blood pressure
Cyanosis
Palpitations
Seizures
Mydriasis
Coma
And eventually, death
Inert gas asphyxiation would not cause the same response as if you held your breath. There are no carbon dioxide levels in the body rising, therefore your brain doesn't recognize that you are suffocating.
OPEN-ENDED POLL
Is this method of execution humane? Why or why not?
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The only people calling it cruel oppose the death penalty in general. I'm surprised it took this long to figure out that people can be painlessly suffocated without expensive drugs.
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I think there is a video explaining that older more "brutal" ways of execution are
more painless for the executed and have a higher success rate than new methods. All the changes from hanging/decapitation to drugs/toxins are for the living to hike up the egos of those doing the killing, making it seem cleaner, when in reality they are still killing someone. Im all for executions for extreme offenders but 10,000$ for a fancy drug cocktail injection that fails at times is not worth it compared to a 12 gauge slug when your just trying to sugar coat murdering a prisoner 
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I've always thought the lethal injection sounded fricking horrific. I'd unironically take the firing squad over it if I was in one of those states where you can choose.
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It's instant cool death vs bad hospital/vet memories and slow painful but nonobvious death. Who wouldn't pick a firing sauad?
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I wonder if they do it proper and let you have one last drag on a cig before showtime.
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I want a pipe
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found the incel
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Firing squad or fricking chop my head off who cares, dont slowly kill me with a botched chemical job.
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There are other drugs you can use to kill someone that are a lot better but its all political.
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juss idle a Kia in da room neighba sheeeit it aint be complacatid
jemarkavious dont think trans lives matter
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eye volintier ma whip
jemarkavious dont think trans lives matter
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I think firing squad would reduce muders because it's a more visceral image in the mind of potential murderers
lethal injections is so abstract and it makes me think of the veterinarian
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Just build like an elevator shaft thingy, have your criminal tied down at the bottom, and drop a 10 ton weight down it. Instant crush, no pain.
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It's been known for decades, whatever reasons exist are political
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We, collectively, wanted to bbq these BIPOCs.
simple as.
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You can buy nitrogen anywhere. You don't even need to seal the room particularly tight, either. The only risk is it spilling into adjoining rooms.
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I thought they started diluting it to stop people from doing that
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People have been letting their cars run in closed garages and we've been taught to uave carbon
monoxide 
detectors since forever 
and we've been knowing why but never 
thought 
to use it on inmates 
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