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I saw a documentary about a guy trying to find a "humane" execution method, he came to the conclusion that suffocation with nitrogen gas probably was the least bad.

It doesn't trigger a feeling of panic as CO2 poisoning does, you simply drift away in a hypoxic high filled with mild confusion without the dread.

People on both sides of the death penalty issue thought is was barbaric, proponents of the death penalty thought it was wrong to remove the suffering from the person, they felt it would be wrong to let say a serial killer just drift away in a high, while opponents of the death penalty felt it was barbaric as it would lessen the felt impact of taking a life and might cause governments to reinstate the death penalty.

It was an interesting documentary...

So before people freak out too much- and yes, executions shouldn’t be a thing (I personally make a few exceptions… but I’m an asshole…) let’s take a moment and realize that nitrogen hypoxia is the method used in suicide pods

While yeah, the moments before it happen are probably terrifying for the condemned- and that probably is where they’re getting “torture” from… it’s far less painful and awful a way to go… than lethal injection or electric chairs or old-school gas chambers;

This is honestly stupid.

They spent insane amount of cash to kill the guy, yet even then they keep failing to do just that.

Either just give him the heavily tested (on animals) and scientifically supported nitrogen, if you really need to kill him that bad or just send him to a damn prison and forget about him.

The primary point is that some states have not yet managed to arrive in the 20th century and abandon capital punishment altogether. And yes, I meant 20th century, not 21st.

The method of killing people is just a measurement of how politically retarded they are.

... Alabama is now asking for volunteers to try it out on first. UN experts are yet to sign up.

Alabama is the trailer park of the US

This is a dilemma.

On the merits of nitrogen hypoxia as a method of execution:
Nitrogen hypoxia is one of the most peaceful, least painful deaths available, and the concerns of a tortuous death are pretty unrealistic.

The air we breathe is 80% nitrogen 20% oxygen, so the body has no adverse reaction to nitrogen. Remove the oxygen, so the person breathes 100% nitrogen 0% oxygen, and the air will feel normal, there is no feeling of suffocation or shortness of breath. However without oxygen one will lose consciousness within a minute or two, and be dead in 5-10 minutes.

For reference, airplanes are pressurized at high altitudes because the less dense air contains fewer molecules of oxygen per lung volume. Past about 11,000' above sea level, there's not enough oxygen in the air to sustain full consciousness. Here's a video of that- the alarm is going off in that guy's airplane because the pressurization system failed. But in an oxygen-deprived state, he happily reports to the controller with a smile that he's totally unable to control his aircraft but other than that everything is peachy. You'll note he is totally unbothered by his condition.
When the controller orders him to descend to 11,000 feet, air density increases, his brain starts working normally again, and he starts making coherent radio calls.

The point of this isn't to be funny, it's to illustrate that in a hypoxic state he was totally calm and happy and not in any distress at all, even though his aircraft was out of control. So if anything, nitrogen hypoxia might be the most peaceful way to die, as in their final moments the condemned may be less concerned about the fact that they are being executed.

The only possible 'botch' I can imagine, is if either the condemned isn't breathing 100% nitrogen, or the nitrogen is shut off before breathing stops, that could leave the condemned in a state of hypoxic brain damage. That could leave him a vegetable, or alive and awake but brain damaged (low IQ, cognitive problems, etc). That's the sort of state most places consider 'unfit to stand trial' and he gets remanded to a care facility probably for life. And that would require a pretty bad botching to create that situation.

But I still hope the complaint stalls things:
On the other hand, I think execution is a barbaric punishment, and I think we should do all we can to abolish it anywhere it still exists. So I support this group, even though their concerns are unscientific to the point of ridicule.

I also suspect I'm very much not alone here. I'm not a doctor, but I am a private pilot and a scuba diver, so I understand what a body needs in terms of breathing gas a bit more than average. I know for a fact I could write a totally bulletproof execution protocol that would provide a reliable, quick, humane, pain-free death. But if I was asked to, I'd refuse, even if it meant giving the condemned a less painful death. Because if such a protocol existed, if the legal system as a whole recognized nitrogen hypoxia as a quick and painless method of execution, that then removes a hurdle for pro-death-penalty states to start executing people.
I suspect I'm not alone because the knowledge I have is far from uncommon. Ask any pilot or astronaut or person involved with breathing gas systems and they'll tell you the same thing. Yet, few if any seem to be stepping up to 'solve' the problem of a humane execution protocol.

Gives me hope for the future of humanity.

Yes, nitrogen hypoxia is untried as a method of intentional execution.

But it's well-understood as a method of suicide, and as a way of accidentally dying.

It's just about the most pleasant, least awful way to die. Your body is wired to detect dangerously high blood levels of CO2, not dangerously low blood levels of O2. So you breathe out CO2, breathe in pure nitrogen, and you get none of that panic feeling that you would normally get if your airway was cut off. It's like breathing in helium from a balloon; you feel short of breath and get light headed. If it continues, you quickly pass out. IIRC, this was the method of suicide advocated by the former Hemlock Society, back in the bad old days before even Dr. Jack Kevorkian.

I ain't sayin' that Alabama uses the death penalty appropriately. (Yes, I support the death penalty, but not in the overwhelming majority of the cases where it's used now.) But if you're going to execute people, this is probably one of the most humane ways to do it.

Any unanamed "gas" in the headline will be converted to "farts" in the mind of the reader.

'Well, we gon' try it!'