Summary
Louisiana is set to execute Jessie Hoffman by nitrogen gas on Tuesday, becoming the second state to use this method despite banning it for euthanizing cats and dogs under state law.
Lawyers argue the method constitutes cruel punishment, citing four recent Alabama executions where prisoners showed distress signs including violent shaking and convulsions.
Louisiana veterinarian Lee Capone, who helped ban animal gassing in the state, called Hoffman’s planned execution “horrific.”
A federal judge’s temporary stay was overturned Friday by the fifth circuit court. Three major nitrogen manufacturers have blocked their products from being used in executions.
Nitrogen is what they use in those suicide capsules as well. You pass out and then suffocate but wont feel like suffocating because that feeling is not caused by the lack of oxygen but the inrease in co2 levels.
EDIT: to add onto this, carbon dioxide is the exact opposite - a total panic since the first inhalation untill you die. It’s known to cause panic attacks even on people who are unable to feel fear due to a brain defect. I know some people euthanize small pets this way thinking it’s humane. It’s about as humane as burning them alive.
And none of the states using nitrogen as an execution method have any intention of doing it “properly” (obligatory “death penalty is fundamentally wrong”).
Yea, if we assume for the sake of argument that we should be executing people are all, nitrogen gas seems like a pretty good way to do it. I’ve never made a detailed study, but I’ve worked with the stuff, and had the safety training. Apparently there is no “danger” signal from the body, and you just keel over.
As an execution method, it’s perfectly fine. Problem is with how they’re doing it. The article shows a full face mask. Those are hard enough to get sealed correctly even if it’s the right size for you. With an unwilling participant and presumably a one-size-fits-all mask, they’re definitely going to be leaking oxygen in, which makes it a slow death while they gasp for more oxygen
I can’t see any reason not to just flood the room. Nitrogen isn’t expensive.
There’s a video somewhere of a documentarian undergoing oxygen deprivation under medical supervision by pumping nitrogen gas into a sealed room while he attempted to solve a simple geometric puzzle (like one for kids, putting the circle in the circular hole, etc). He felt totally fine the entire time but became euphoric and rapidly declined in cognitive ability - to the point where he could no longer solve the puzzle but was very confident that he was doing very well. When he was supplied with oxygen he reflected on the experience and said he had no idea anything was wrong.
Now I’m not saying there isn’t something I’m missing or don’t understand regarding suicide/execution by nitrogen, but as far as I understand it, any discomfort occurs after you’ve lost consciousness.
I have a feeling the backlash when states started considering this as an execution method was intended to paint it as less humane than the 3-drug cocktail to propagandize against the death penalty - knowing that if a more humane method were used, the movement against the death penalty would probably lose some supporters. So, they poisoned the well a couple years ago when this conversation first hit the news.
Now, the real argument against the death penalty is that the state shouldn’t have the ability to kill convicts because what is a capital offence can change for arbitrary reasons and the judicial system will always wrongly convict people. But a more visceral argument is that execution is painful and cruel - so take away the pain and you lose the folks you’ve persuaded using that argument.
It was Dustin from the YT channel SmarterEveryDay
https://youtu.be/kUfF2MTnqAw
Best part of the video is when they ask him if he wants to die and with this goofy grin he says “I don’t wanna die” and winks. That video stuck with me and i think about it every time I’m flying in case those masks drop.
I think the fundamental difference between that experiment and the “suicide capsules” vs the death penalty is that in the *former the people going into it are doing so willingly. I imagine people undergoing the same procedure involuntarily will probably resist, hold their breath, panic, do whatever they can to sabotage the process, etc. The reason this method is rarely used to euthanise pets is precisely because of this - the animals get stressed (as many often do at the vet where they need to be for the procedure) panic, react, and it takes way longer than it should as a result.
Edit: edited for clarity
ive heard they react even more aggressively when they are slightly sedated, or even almost sedated. because they dont know whats going on, sometimes it dangerous