The state of Alabama became the first government in the world to administer the death penalty via nitrogen hypoxia on Jan. 25, while executing Kenneth Smith, Nicholas Bogel-Burroughs and Abbie VanSickle reported in the New York Times article “Alabama Carries Out First U.S. Execution by Nitrogen.”
Nitrogen hypoxia, a medical term for execution via the inhalation of nitrogen gas, should be outlawed due to the painful and inhumane way it causes death. Alabama state lawyers suggested this method because the victim would supposedly lose consciousness seconds after inhaling the gas and die peacefully while they are unconscious, Bogel-Burroughs reported.
When the state performed this type of execution for the first time on, the victim reportedly stayed conscious throughout most of the process and “‘shook and writhed’ for at least two minutes before beginning to breathe heavily for several minutes,” Bogel-Burroughs said.
If what witnesses to the execution said is true, Smith died a prolonged and painful death. His body fought back as he was strapped to a chair, full of agony in his final seconds.
The eighth amendment of the Constitution explicitly prohibits “cruel and unusual punishment.” Nitrogen hypoxia should undoubtedly classify as cruel punishment because it causes the victim to suffer for several minutes. Any procedure that inflicts prolonged pain and suffering as a from of punishment is classified as torture, yet nitrogen hypoxia, which does the same thing, is not. This is not right.
Nitrogen hypoxia is in no way more humane than lethal injection, the standard in death penalty execution for the past four decades. Lethal injections make the victim unconscious as they die, so they can’t feel anything, which is what nitrogen hypoxia is meant to do. The only reason that lethal injections are becoming obsolete is because multiple states have reported difficulty in obtaining the drugs necessary for injections, encouraging the shift to the new nitrogen executions, according to a CNN article “An Alabama inmate was executed with nitrogen gas. How does it work?” by Lauren Mascarenhas.
“Having failed to kill Smith on its first attempt, Alabama has selected him as its ‘guinea pig’ to test a method of execution never attempted before,” Supreme Court Justice Sonia Sotomayor wrote after the Supreme Court refused to stop Smith’s execution. “The world is watching.”
Sotomayor was right. Nitrogen hypoxia is an inhumane way of administering the death penalty, and thus, it should be outlawed.