this post was submitted on 22 Dec 2023

178 points (94.9% liked)

News

22890 readers

3983 users here now

Welcome to the News community!

Rules:

1. Be civil

Attack the argument, not the person. No racism/sexism/bigotry. Good faith argumentation only. This includes accusing another user of being a bot or paid actor. Trolling is uncivil and is grounds for removal and/or a community ban.

2. All posts should contain a source (url) that is as reliable and unbiased as possible and must only contain one link.

Obvious right or left wing sources will be removed at the mods discretion. We have an actively updated blocklist, which you can see here: https://lemmy.world/post/2246130 if you feel like any website is missing, contact the mods. Supporting links can be added in comments or posted seperately but not to the post body.

3. No bots, spam or self-promotion.

Only approved bots, which follow the guidelines for bots set by the instance, are allowed.

4. Post titles should be the same as the article used as source.

Posts which titles don’t match the source won’t be removed, but the autoMod will notify you, and if your title misrepresents the original article, the post will be deleted. If the site changed their headline, the bot might still contact you, just ignore it, we won’t delete your post.

5. Only recent news is allowed.

Posts must be news from the most recent 30 days.

6. All posts must be news articles.

No opinion pieces, Listicles, editorials or celebrity gossip is allowed. All posts will be judged on a case-by-case basis.

7. No duplicate posts.

If a source you used was already posted by someone else, the autoMod will leave a message. Please remove your post if the autoMod is correct. If the post that matches your post is very old, we refer you to rule 5.

8. Misinformation is prohibited.

Misinformation / propaganda is strictly prohibited. Any comment or post containing or linking to misinformation will be removed. If you feel that your post has been removed in error, credible sources must be provided.

9. No link shorteners.

The auto mod will contact you if a link shortener is detected, please delete your post if they are right.

10. Don't copy entire article in your post body

For copyright reasons, you are not allowed to copy an entire article into your post body. This is an instance wide rule, that is strictly enforced in this community.

founded 1 year ago

MODERATORS

rjc@lemmy.world

Thekingoflorda@lemmy.world

gedaliyah@lemmy.world

Blackbeard@lemmy.world

little_cow@lemmy.world

jeffw@lemmy.world

178

Judge suggests change to nitrogen execution to let inmate pray and say final words without gas mask (apnews.com)

submitted 9 months ago by MicroWave@lemmy.world to c/news@lemmy.world

98 comments fedilink hide all child comments

A federal judge who is weighing whether to allow the nation’s first execution by nitrogen hypoxia to go forward next month, urged Alabama on Thursday to change procedures so the inmate can pray and say his final words before the gas mask is placed on his face.

U.S. District Judge R. Austin Huffaker made the suggestion in a court order setting a Dec. 29 deadline to submit information before he rules on the inmate’s request to block the execution. The judge made similar comments the day prior at the conclusion of a court hearing.

Alabama is scheduled to execute Kenneth Eugene Smith on Jan. 25 in what would be the nation’s first execution using nitrogen gas. Nitrogen hypoxia is authorized as an execution method in Alabama, Mississippi and Oklahoma but has never been used to put an inmate to death.

The proposed execution method would use a gas mask, placed over Smith’s nose and mouth, to replace breathable air with nitrogen, causing Smith to die from lack of oxygen.

top 50 comments

sorted by: hot top controversial new old

[–] yesman@lemmy.world 81 points 9 months ago (2 children)

I think public executions where the prisoner is tortured to death are more progressive than supposed "humane" methods.

Not because I like cruelty or think they deserve it, but I want the State to do it's killing out in the open where citizens are exposed to what's happening in their name. Hiding the act behind closed doors and beneath a cloak of "humane" methods allows the State to exercise ultimate authority in secret from the people from whom that authority is derived. It's the State and the supporters of the death penalty that are being spared pain.

Yes, I got this from Foucault.

[–] Crack0n7uesday@lemmy.world 91 points 9 months ago* (last edited 9 months ago) (23 children)

You highly overestimate the amount of compassion the average person has. If you torture people to death in public people will sell tickets for the best seats. The Romans built a whole damn arena for this purpose.

[–] jwt@programming.dev 23 points 9 months ago

If anything, I think it would normalize killing (even more). But I guess I get where OP is coming from: Governments shouldn't get away with killing a human by claiming it's a humane act.

[–] yesman@lemmy.world 7 points 9 months ago

Yes! you're correct. It will be spectacle and celebration. We may revel in our cruelty, but we cannot feign mercy.

The question of capital punishment comes into focus. I don't trust in compassion; I'm advocating for honesty.

load more comments (21 replies)

[–] SCB@lemmy.world 4 points 9 months ago* (last edited 9 months ago)

What Foucalt gets wrong here is that historically, civilians just enjoy it. They don't find it barbaric or inhumane.

Like there wouldn't be some national conversation about "what have we become" - it'll just be a fun thing people do.

[–] YoFrodo@lemmy.world 28 points 9 months ago (1 children)

What if we stop executing people entirely?

[–] hOrni@lemmy.world 6 points 9 months ago (1 children)

No, that would be to moral. Unchristian even.

load more comments (1 replies)

[–] Pat_Riot@lemmy.today 28 points 9 months ago (33 children)

So easy to build a sealed room. Why use a mask in the first place? Slowly exchange air for nitrogen and the prisoner dies saying his pointless prayer. Never even knows it happened. No suffering, no nothing. Just lights out. Then re exchange for air so the body can be safely collected. This is not rocket surgery.

[–] BottleOfAlkahest@lemmy.world 10 points 9 months ago (1 children)

That sounds like the plan they have already just with an entire room rather than just a small mask. It's the same thing except your plan requires more gas and a bigger dedicated gas chamber with more failure points.

load more comments (1 replies)

[–] ASeriesOfPoorChoices@lemmy.world 8 points 9 months ago (10 children)

Why use a mask: because it's cheaper, and helps secure the people nearby (in case of a room leaking, that's a lot of displaced air, while a mask or similar leaking is significantly less of risk in case of uncontrolled release). But I bet mostly because it's cheaper - and remember, it's never been done before (by them, for this purpose).

load more comments (10 replies)

[–] Bipta@kbin.social 7 points 9 months ago

Because cruelty.

load more comments (30 replies)

[–] tygerprints@kbin.social 7 points 9 months ago (1 children)

OK. I mean, if that's what the inmate is requesting, why not allow it. He's gonna be put to death anyway. Personally I don't believe his "praying" will be of any use, in this life or the next - if there is one- because I don't believe in that religious nonsense, or that someone can be "forgiven" for any crime involving murder anyway. But what's the skin off anybody's anus if he wants to be executed this way? That should at least be his decision to make.

[–] FlyingSquid@lemmy.world 23 points 9 months ago (3 children)

But what’s the skin off anybody’s anus if he wants to be executed this way? That should at least be his decision to make.

The point is cruelty. People are objecting to execution by nitrogen because the prisoner doesn't suffer enough. That's the right-wing mentality in a nutshell. They think torturing someone doesn't make them bad people if that someone "deserves" it.

load more comments (3 replies)

[–] crystalmerchant@lemmy.world 4 points 9 months ago

When was the country's most recent capital punishment before this one?

load more comments