Transcript
Alabama suffocated a man to death in a gas chamber tonight after starving him so he wouldn’t choke on his own vomit as they did it. And this was deemed perfectly legal by multiple courts in the vaunted American legal system.
That’s what happens when you value institutions over people.
Link for more info: https://www.reuters.com/legal/alabama-prepares-carry-out-first-execution-by-nitrogen-asphyxiation-2024-01-25/
The great performative irony of the death penalty is that the swiftest, most merciful death is that by firing squad, but it looks violent and brutal and so increasingly cruel and elaborate alternatives are sought.
Firing squad deaths are prone to human error and could be painful in the final moments leading up to death. Imagine someone accidentally (or on purpose) shoots the subject in the leg or arm instead of the chest. And the subject is awake right up until death.
In contrast, nitrogen asphyxiation is way more humane. It is not reliant on human skill in the way that firing squads are, and the subject loses consciousness before dying.
Didn’t Dr Kevorkian come up with a couple humane methods for assisted suicide? I don’t think we should have the death penalty, but couldn’t one of those be used?