Oklahoma to use nitrogen for executions in first for U.S.

[webfact]

Oklahoma to use nitrogen for executions in first for U.S.

 

(Reuters) - Oklahoma officials said on Wednesday the state would resume executions using nitrogen gas, a move that would make it the first U.S. state to use the gas for capital punishment.

 

Oklahoma Attorney General Mike Hunter said in a statement that the state would use the gas as its primary means of execution once a procedure for its use had been finalised.

 

A spokeswoman for Hunter declined to comment on when executions might resume following a three-year hiatus. It was not likely until the end of the year at the earliest, The Oklahoman newspaper reported.

 

Oklahoma has not carried out an execution since 2015 after a series of mishaps, including a botched lethal injection where an inmate was seen by witnesses writhing in pain on a death chamber gurney.

 

Oklahoma is turning to nitrogen after it, and other states, have been unable to acquire drugs required for lethal injections due to opposition from manufacturers to their products being used for capital punishment.

 

According to the state law, if lethal injection is unavailable, executions must be carried out by nitrogen gas inhalation, Hunter said in the statement.

 

Nitrogen is an odourless and tasteless gas that makes up about 78 percent of the air we breathe but it causes death when inhaled without any oxygen.

 

Oklahoma is among 31 U.S. states that permit the death penalty and it has carried out 112 executions, the third highest number for a U.S. state, since 1976 when capital punishment was reinstated, according to the Death Penalty Information Center, a non-profit capital punishment monitor.

Oklahoma has 16 inmates on death row who have exhausted all appeals, Hunter's spokeswoman said.

 

The United States is a rarity among developed nations in allowing capital punishment. Overall U.S. executions rose slightly in 2017 to 23 but remained around the lowest in decades, according to the Death Penalty Information Center.

 

Globally, the United States ranked seventh or eighth in executions in 2016, behind China, Iran, Saudi Arabia, Iraq, Pakistan, Egypt and possibly Vietnam, where the total number of executions remains unclear, the centre said. 

 

(Reporting by Andrew Hay; Editing by Sandra Maler)

 

-- © Copyright Reuters 2018-03-15

[daoyai]

The reason nitrogen has not been used previous is it is a painless "happy" death, the thought being that it would not be a deterrent to capital crime as the fear factor is reduced.

[wgdanson]

Back to the old gas chamber then, just a different gas.

[steve187]

53 minutes ago, daoyai said:

The reason nitrogen has not been used previous is it is a painless "happy" death, the thought being that it would not be a deterrent to capital crime as the fear factor is reduced.

it would only be a 'happy' feeling once administered, prior to that the person would know he was going to die the same as any other lethal method 

[attrayant]

5 hours ago, daoyai said:

The reason nitrogen has not been used previous is it is a painless "happy" death, the thought being that it would not be a deterrent to capital crime as the fear factor is reduced.

 

Whose reason would that be?  And in what way is a person who is about to be executed going to feel happy?

[attrayant]

9 minutes ago, car720 said:

Isn't it a bit over the top though.  To nuke a guy when a bullet would do.

 

Are you really saying that nitrogen hypoxia is overkill?

[kamahele]

Veterinarians only suggest using this method for chickens and turkeys but not for larger animals. I think humans may fall into that category. Stop sentencing people to death and the problem goes away.

[Beats56]

Use to use nitrogen in the petrochemical plants to inert oxygen in vessels being prepared for service after maintenance or a shutdown.

It doesn't take long to kill someone in a confined space. Don't think anyone would be happy they would just drop dead.

 

[Oxx]

9 hours ago, webfact said:

The United States is a rarity among developed nations in allowing capital punishment.

 

And is clearly a barbarous one for allowing it.

[scubascuba3]

Wouldn't they choke on nitrogen? That can't be fun

[Basil B]

8 hours ago, daoyai said:

The reason nitrogen has not been used previous is it is a painless "happy" death, the thought being that it would not be a deterrent to capital crime as the fear factor is reduced.

I do not think it is happy, but the person being executed would first feel light headed, may be a few seconds of tingling before passing out.

[TallGuyJohninBKK]

Now, just relax, inhale deeply, and start counting backward...

[Grouse]

Lovely people ?

[soalbundy]

At least it's humane.

[EVENKEEL]

5 hours ago, attrayant said:

 

Whose reason would that be?  And in what way is a person who is about to be executed going to feel happy?

I wonder if his victims were real happy campers. I'll bet they didn't have a say in the matter.

 

Do the crime you have to pay. Problem is there's to long of a waiting period between sentencing and penalty being carried out.

[attrayant]

3 hours ago, scubascuba3 said:

Wouldn't they choke on nitrogen?

 

Nitrogen is inert, so it's not an irritant.  The atmosphere we breathe is about 78% nitrogen and we don't choke on that.  The benefit of execution by nitrogen hypoxia is that there is no oxygen starvation panic felt since unconsciousness usually happens after just a few breaths.  The victim dozes off with no symptoms at all.

[Oxx]

10 minutes ago, attrayant said:

unconsciousness usually happens after just a few breaths

 

That very much depends upon how quickly one gets from breathing normal air to breathing pure nitrogen.

[attrayant]

I am assuming a tightly controlled environment, as should be the case in an execution.  A face mask, for example.  Even in a gas chamber a peaceful unconsciousness should not take longer than a minute.  Suffocation panic is caused by CO₂ buildup in the blood, but in a nitrogen environment the victim is still able to exhale CO₂ normally.

[Oxx]

1 hour ago, attrayant said:

I am assuming a tightly controlled environment, as should be the case in an execution.

 

That's a pretty big assumption in the case of the American judicial death service.

 

In the case of Oklahoma, let's not forget the botched execution of Clayton Darrell Lockett in 2014 where a doctor and a paramedic failed nearly a dozen times to administer an IV with lethal drugs.  The execution attempt was called off after 33 minutes, though the "patient" died shortly afterwards from a heart attack.  Gruesome details at https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Execution_of_Clayton_Lockett#Failed_execution

[tifino]

 

I suppose it could be effective?

 

Just plug up all his other orifices,

hook him up,

and pump...

 

pretty soon he'd blow! - like Mr Creosote

[Moonlover]

2 hours ago, attrayant said:

Wouldn't they choke on nitrogen?

No. Much like the effect of a plane losing pressure at high altitude, the victims simply lose consciousness and die through lack of oxygen. Anoxia is the posh term.

 

Free divers can also suffer the same fate if they go down too deep and/or stay down for too long. Known in the game as 'shallow water blackout'.

 

Why is America so screwed up on this issue of capital punishment?

 

Instead of scratching around for the best way to dispatch a fellow human being, join the rest of the civilized world and abolish it once and for all.

 

[Quidio]

2 hours ago, Oxx said:

 

That's a pretty big assumption in the case of the American judicial death service.

 

In the case of Oklahoma, let's not forget the botched execution of Clayton Darrell Lockett in 2014 where a doctor and a paramedic failed nearly a dozen times to administer an IV with lethal drugs.  The execution attempt was called off after 33 minutes, though the "patient" died shortly afterwards from a heart attack.  Gruesome details at https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Execution_of_Clayton_Lockett#Failed_execution

Mission Accomplished.

[katana]

8 hours ago, scubascuba3 said:

Wouldn't they choke on nitrogen? That can't be fun

You get no sense of suffocation in pure nitrogen. You just pass out after about 15 seconds and go on to die. It's sometimes the cause of aircraft crashes when oxygen levels inadvertently fall too low and the pilot passes out.

With other gases like carbon dioxide, you immediately get a sense of suffocation if breathing them pure.

[bannork]

Just now, katana said:

You get no sense of suffocation in pure nitrogen. You just pass out after about 15 seconds and go on to die. It's sometimes the cause of aircraft crashes when oxygen levels inadvertently fall too low and the pilot passes out.

With other gases like carbon dioxide, you immediately get a sense of suffocation if breathing them pure.

It sounds like a peaceful way to go. Could it be a dignified  way out for those with terminal conditions and nothing to look forward to but more pain and suffering?

[scubascuba3]

It sounds like a peaceful way to go. Could it be a dignified  way out for those with terminal conditions and nothing to look forward to but more pain and suffering?

Sounds like a good exit bag strategy, I'll diarise it for 40 years

[Grouse]

What a deeply depressing discussion

[Grouse]

14 hours ago, soalbundy said:

At least it's humane.

Then just use the humane killer; the one with the captive bolt. Just like the one the vet used to put down your pony! Jesus.

[Oxx]

55 minutes ago, Grouse said:

Then just use the humane killer; the one with the captive bolt. Just like the one the vet used to put down your pony! Jesus.

 

Doesn't work for Americans.  They want witnesses to see and enjoy the judicial killing, but Americans are, apparently, squeamish pussies, afraid of the sight of a bit of blood and splattered brain matter.  Hence the move towards less gruesome methods of execution such as lethal injection.

 

In fact, every single state that has retained capital punishment has lethal injection as the sole or primary method of execution.

 

Source:  https://deathpenaltyinfo.org/methods-execution

[soalbundy]

2 hours ago, Grouse said:

Then just use the humane killer; the one with the captive bolt. Just like the one the vet used to put down your pony! Jesus.

I don't have a pony. If a country has to have a death penalty (I don't agree with it) then death should be made as comfortable as possible, I saw a BBC program once on the use of nitrogen ,one apparently dies in euphoria, no pain. The firing squad or captive bolt would do just as well but nitrogen appeals to the sensibilities.

[Credo]

The use of nitrogen gas is quite environmentally friendly.   Years ago, in California, there was a guy who was scheduled for the gas chamber but it had to be postponed because there was some bird nest, of an endangered species on the roof of the prison near the vent where the gas was released.