California Death row
Nitrogen gas may be the next method of state-sanctioned executions, according to The New York Times. Many states are considering the gas as an alternative to the controversial use of other lethal drug combinations.
“25 percent of millennial-age American men think asking a woman who is not a romantic partner to go for a drink is harassment,” according to a recent survey by The Economist/YouGov reports The New York Times 1-17-18.
The change in execution method comes on the heels of lawsuits alleging botched attempts with lethal injections, which were supposed to be more humane than the electric chair or gas chamber.
Execution teams have experienced difficulties obtaining the drugs used in lethal injections. However, experts question the efficiency of using nitrogen as a feasible solution because there is no existing scientific data.
“The total drug-overdose deaths was 64,070 in the 12 months through January 2017.” The Wall Street Journal, Oct. 27, 2017
“If and when states begin carrying out executions with nitrogen, it will amount to the same type of experimentation we see in the different variations of lethal injections” lawyer and expert on lethal injection at the Berkeley Law Death Penalty Clinic Jen Moreno told the New York Times.
Any state, federal or military prison that experiments with the nitrogen gas as an executional method will be scrutinized as a test lab, the article said.
An Alabama execution team was accused of puncturing the bladder of a prisoner as well as opening an artery during an attempt to find a vein suitable for their lethal injection.
In response to the still-existing need for a more viable solution, Oklahoma, Mississippi and Alabama have now authorized the use of nitrogen gas as a means of execution.