# Nitrogen Execution Now In America **URL:** \ **Category:** In My Humble Opinion\ **Created:** [March 17, 2018, 4:44am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/nitrogen-execution-now-in-america/810714 "2018-03-17T04:44:16Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![iiandyiiii](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/iiandyiiii/32/7924_2.png) [@iiandyiiii](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/iiandyiiii)\ **Post date:** [March 17, 2018, 7:03pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/nitrogen-execution-now-in-america/810714/21 "2018-03-17T19:03:53Z")
If we used a bullet, that means there has to be a shooter – an employee whose job it is to shoot people in the back of the skull. If it’s someone who wanted to do that, they’re not fit or stable enough to be an employee handling deadly weapons. If it’s a regular and decent person, making them shoot people for a living will break their psyche. ---
**Author:** ![k9bfriender](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/k9bfriender/32/3283_2.png) [@k9bfriender](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/k9bfriender)\ **Post date:** [March 17, 2018, 7:22pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/nitrogen-execution-now-in-america/810714/22 "2018-03-17T19:22:56Z")
> [@Johnny\_L.A](#): > > Based on comments I’ve seen from certain demographic populations, there may be people who would pay to do it. ☹ True, and there are probably people that would pay to watch. We could even have souvenirs and you could take selfies with the condemned, both before and after, for a nominal fee. Maybe before the execution, you can buy rocks or rotten fruit to throw at the prisoner. We could haul them through town in an open cage for everyone to jeer and sneer at. Be great for morale and a useful subsidy towards our criminal justice system (jails don’t build themselves you know.) > [@iiandyiiii](#): > > If we used a bullet, that means there has to be a shooter – an employee whose job it is to shoot people in the back of the skull. If it’s someone who wanted to do that, they’re not fit or stable enough to be an employee handling deadly weapons. If it’s a regular and decent person, making them shoot people for a living will break their psyche. Ahhh, spoilsport. > [@buddha\_david](#): > > Another great advantage of nitrogen executions is that the prisoner’s body organs would still be viable for potential transplants, which isn’t possible with lethal injection. I’m of very mixed minds when it comes to harvesting the condemned for their organs. In some ways, it makes sense, and it also makes the death penalty less wasteful, but it does create a perverse incentive to increase the number of executions if we need more organs. ---
**Author:** ![Velocity](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/velocity/32/18006_2.png) [@Velocity](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Velocity)\ **Post date:** [March 17, 2018, 7:33pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/nitrogen-execution-now-in-america/810714/23 "2018-03-17T19:33:30Z")
> [@iiandyiiii](#): > > If we used a bullet, that means there has to be a shooter – an employee whose job it is to shoot people in the back of the skull. If it’s someone who wanted to do that, they’re not fit or stable enough to be an employee handling deadly weapons. How is this logic different than any other execution method? Someone has to pull the switch for the electric chair, start the IV flowing for the lethal injection, operate the trap-door for the gallows. “If they’re willing to do it, they shouldn’t, and if they are unwilling to do it, they shouldn’t” is roundabout circular logic. ---
**Author:** ![Stranger\_On\_A\_Train](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/13edae/32.png) [@Stranger\_On\_A\_Train](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Stranger_On_A_Train)\ **Post date:** [March 17, 2018, 8:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/nitrogen-execution-now-in-america/810714/24 "2018-03-17T20:28:25Z")
> [@buddha\_david](#): > > Another great advantage of nitrogen executions is that the prisoner’s body organs would still be viable for potential transplants, which isn’t possible with lethal injection. [”The state will prove that the said Warren Lewis Knowles did, in the space of two years, willfully drive through a total of six red traffic lights. During that same period the same Warren Knowles exceeded local speed limits no less than ten times, once by as much as fifteen miles per hour. His record has never been good. We will produce records of his arrest in 2082 on a charge of drunk driving, a charge of which he was acquitted only through—” “Objection!” “Sustained. If he was acquitted, Counselor, the Court must assume him not guilty.”]([http://will.tip.dhappy.org/blog/Porn%20Recommender/.../book/by/Larry%20Niven/The%20Jigsaw%20Man/Larry%20Niven%20-%20The%20Jigsaw%20Man.html](http://will.tip.dhappy.org/blog/Porn%20Recommender/.../book/by/Larry%20Niven/The%20Jigsaw%20Man/Larry%20Niven%20-%20The%20Jigsaw%20Man.html)) Stranger ---
**Author:** ![iiandyiiii](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/iiandyiiii/32/7924_2.png) [@iiandyiiii](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/iiandyiiii)\ **Post date:** [March 17, 2018, 8:47pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/nitrogen-execution-now-in-america/810714/25 "2018-03-17T20:47:10Z")
> [@Velocity](#): > > How is this logic different than any other execution method? Someone has to pull the switch for the electric chair, start the IV flowing for the lethal injection, operate the trap-door for the gallows. “If they’re willing to do it, they shouldn’t, and if they are unwilling to do it, they shouldn’t” is roundabout circular logic. In my understanding of human psychology, being “up close and personal” when killing someone is very different in terms of how it affects the human mind than being separated and essentially pulling a switch in another room. ---
**Author:** ![eschereal](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/eschereal/32/18939_2.png) [@eschereal](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/eschereal)\ **Post date:** [March 17, 2018, 9:06pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/nitrogen-execution-now-in-america/810714/26 "2018-03-17T21:06:01Z")
> [@boytyperanma](#): > > They can get nitrogen without doctors. It’s not a horrible choice if they need to kill people. I’d prefer they stop thinking about ways to ‘humanly’ kill people and just not kill people. Why would one need to get nitrogen? It is fucking everywhere. All you would need to do is seal a room and set up a bunch of oxygen generators to pump the oxygen out. With enough capacity, the room could be uninhabitable rather quickly. ---
**Author:** ![k9bfriender](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/k9bfriender/32/3283_2.png) [@k9bfriender](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/k9bfriender)\ **Post date:** [March 17, 2018, 9:12pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/nitrogen-execution-now-in-america/810714/27 "2018-03-17T21:12:59Z")
> [@iiandyiiii](#): > > In my understanding of human psychology, being “up close and personal” when killing someone is very different in terms of how it affects the human mind than being separated and essentially pulling a switch in another room. People have even tried to come up with designs that make the condemned be the only one to “pull the trigger” as it were. [Self hanging gallows](http://hauntedohiobooks.com/news/pulling-the-plug-from-the-bucket-the-self-hanging-gallows/). ---
**Author:** ![k9bfriender](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/k9bfriender/32/3283_2.png) [@k9bfriender](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/k9bfriender)\ **Post date:** [March 17, 2018, 9:17pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/nitrogen-execution-now-in-america/810714/28 "2018-03-17T21:17:14Z")
> [@eschereal](#): > > Why would one need to get nitrogen? It is fucking everywhere. All you would need to do is seal a room and set up a bunch of oxygen generators to pump the oxygen out. With enough capacity, the room could be uninhabitable rather quickly. It would probably require quite a bit of time and effort to remove the oxygen from a room. Most people in a closed room do not die from oxygen deprivation, but CO[sub]2[/sub] poisoning. It is also easy to get nitrogen. It is not a chemical or drug that needs to be manufactured by a company that is concerned about possible reputational damages that they are selling LI drugs. ---
**Author:** ![Fear\_Itself](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/fear_itself/32/19637_2.png) [@Fear\_Itself](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Fear_Itself)\ **Post date:** [March 17, 2018, 9:21pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/nitrogen-execution-now-in-america/810714/29 "2018-03-17T21:21:27Z")
> [@k9bfriender](#): > > It is also easy to get nitrogen. It is not a chemical or drug that needs to be manufactured by a company that is concerned about possible reputational damages that they are selling LI drugs. You have to buy it from someone. Companies don’t like to be associated with state-sponsored killing. ---
**Author:** ![k9bfriender](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/k9bfriender/32/3283_2.png) [@k9bfriender](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/k9bfriender)\ **Post date:** [March 17, 2018, 9:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/nitrogen-execution-now-in-america/810714/30 "2018-03-17T21:31:15Z")
> [@Fear\_Itself](#): > > You have to buy it from someone. Companies don’t like to be associated with state-sponsored killing. There are hundreds, if not thousands of places where you can buy nitrogen either as compressed gas or as liquid. I know of 5 places I can buy air products, including nitrogen, off hand within 20 minutes of here, and I’ve never bought it. If all else fails, you can make it yourself, it’s not exactly hard or expensive to get the equipment required. Personally, I am pretty against the death penalty. I don’t really see the point in it, and it makes it hard to exonerate someone when you discover that they were actually innocent, but then I think most of our justice system is a hodgepodge of poor incentives to try to get people to act ethically. The death penalty should be extremely rare, only used in the cases of truly irredeemable and heinous criminals, if at all, and should also be as humane as possible. If we are going to do it, we should at least get part of it right. ---
**Author:** ![Fear\_Itself](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/fear_itself/32/19637_2.png) [@Fear\_Itself](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Fear_Itself)\ **Post date:** [March 17, 2018, 9:53pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/nitrogen-execution-now-in-america/810714/31 "2018-03-17T21:53:20Z")
> [@k9bfriender](#): > > There are hundreds, if not thousands of places where you can buy nitrogen either as compressed gas or as liquid. And with a simple FOIA request, death penalty opponents can find out which one they used and spread it all over the internet. Suppliers will have to decide if that is worth a couple hundred dollars of gas. ---
**Author:** ![k9bfriender](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/k9bfriender/32/3283_2.png) [@k9bfriender](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/k9bfriender)\ **Post date:** [March 17, 2018, 10:06pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/nitrogen-execution-now-in-america/810714/32 "2018-03-17T22:06:53Z")
> [@Fear\_Itself](#): > > And with a simple FOIA request, death penalty opponents can find out which one they used and spread it all over the internet. Suppliers will have to decide if that is worth a couple hundred dollars of gas. There are many govt industries that also produce nitrogen gas, and, as I said, the equipment to make it is not really all that expensive or hard to run. If it came down to it, an enterprising entrepreneur could set himself up as the supplier of nitrogen gas for executions for only a few thousand dollars worth of equipment. Then it wouldn’t matter if it is spread all over the internet, as just a couple executions pay for the equipment, and they wouldn’t need to have any other customers. ---
**Author:** ![Fear\_Itself](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/fear_itself/32/19637_2.png) [@Fear\_Itself](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Fear_Itself)\ **Post date:** [March 17, 2018, 10:11pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/nitrogen-execution-now-in-america/810714/33 "2018-03-17T22:11:47Z")
> [@k9bfriender](#): > > There are many govt industries that also produce nitrogen gas, and, as I said, the equipment to make it is not really all that expensive or hard to run. > > If it came down to it, an enterprising entrepreneur could set himself up as the supplier of nitrogen gas for executions for only a few thousand dollars worth of equipment. Then it wouldn’t matter if it is spread all over the internet, as just a couple executions pay for the equipment, and they wouldn’t need to have any other customers. How many states use nitrogen for executions? One. How much nitrogen do they need? Not much. How cheap is it? Very. You just keep thinking Butch, that’s what you’re good at. ---
**Author:** ![eschereal](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/eschereal/32/18939_2.png) [@eschereal](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/eschereal)\ **Post date:** [March 17, 2018, 10:15pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/nitrogen-execution-now-in-america/810714/34 "2018-03-17T22:15:57Z")
> [@k9bfriender](#): > > People have even tried to come up with designs that make the condemned be the only one to “pull the trigger” as it were. > > [Self hanging gallows](http://hauntedohiobooks.com/news/pulling-the-plug-from-the-bucket-the-self-hanging-gallows/). Just fill a room with argon to neck level. Pure argon is heavier than air and not terribly expensive. The prisoner is free to move about, but as soon as he sits down, he will pass out and asphyxiate. ---
**Author:** ![k9bfriender](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/k9bfriender/32/3283_2.png) [@k9bfriender](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/k9bfriender)\ **Post date:** [March 17, 2018, 10:19pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/nitrogen-execution-now-in-america/810714/35 "2018-03-17T22:19:37Z")
> [@Fear\_Itself](#): > > How many states use nitrogen for executions? One. How much nitrogen do they need? Not much. How cheap is it? Very. And a few days ago it was zero. This thread is discussing about that changing. If that changes, it is not going to go just from zero to one, it will go to more than that. Like I said, it is very easy to produce. And if you are the only one willing to produce it for the purpose of being used in the death penalty, you can probably charge a much higher rate than what you can get from PraxAir. Or, even easier, the prison can have the equipment down in the basement, if they would rather produce it themselves than procure it. > [@](#): > > You just keep thinking Butch, that’s what you’re good at. I assume you mean that as an insult. I really do not see the need for that. ---
**Author:** ![Stranger\_On\_A\_Train](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/13edae/32.png) [@Stranger\_On\_A\_Train](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Stranger_On_A_Train)\ **Post date:** [March 17, 2018, 10:30pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/nitrogen-execution-now-in-america/810714/36 "2018-03-17T22:30:25Z")
> [@eschereal](#): > > Just fill a room with argon to neck level. Pure argon is heavier than air and not terribly expensive. The prisoner is free to move about, but as soon as he sits down, he will pass out and asphyxiate. _Submitted for your approval: one Roland B. **Eschereal** , innoculous participant on a little known message board in a dusty corner of that dark dimension known as the Twilight Zone. But little known to the subject of tonight’s feature, this is his last night before shuffling off that mortal coil, for the next time he elects to ease his weary feet and recline in that Laz-E-Boy, the breath he takes will be his last. Tonight’s episode is entitled, “Take a Chair,” brought to you by Chesterfield cigarettes. Chesterfield King, the great taste of twenty-one vintage tobaccos, grown mild, aged mild, and blended mild. No wonder they satisfy so completely._ Stranger ---
**Author:** ![k9bfriender](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/k9bfriender/32/3283_2.png) [@k9bfriender](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/k9bfriender)\ **Post date:** [March 17, 2018, 10:34pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/nitrogen-execution-now-in-america/810714/37 "2018-03-17T22:34:00Z")
> [@Stranger\_On\_A\_Train](#): > > _Submitted for your approval: one Roland B. **Eschereal** , innoculous participant on a little known message board in a dusty corner of that dark dimension known as the Twilight Zone. But little known to the subject of tonight’s feature, this is his last night before shuffling off that mortal coil, for the next time he elects to ease his weary feet and recline in that Laz-E-Boy, the breath he takes will be his last. Tonight’s episode is entitled, “Take a Chair,” brought to you by Chesterfield cigarettes. Chesterfield King, the great taste of twenty-one vintage tobaccos, grown mild, aged mild, and blended mild. No wonder they satisfy so completely._ > > Stranger Well, thanks. Now I’ll never sit again. ---
**Author:** ![eschereal](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/eschereal/32/18939_2.png) [@eschereal](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/eschereal)\ **Post date:** [March 17, 2018, 10:41pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/nitrogen-execution-now-in-america/810714/38 "2018-03-17T22:41:37Z")
> [@Stranger\_On\_A\_Train](#): > > _Submitted for your approval: one Roland B. **Eschereal** , innoculous participant on a little known message board in a dusty corner of that dark dimension known as the Twilight Zone. But little known to the subject of tonight’s feature, this is his last night before shuffling off that mortal coil, for the next time he elects to ease his weary feet and recline in that Laz-E-Boy, the breath he takes will be his last. Tonight’s episode is entitled, “Take a Chair,” brought to you by Chesterfield cigarettes. Chesterfield King, the great taste of twenty-one vintage tobaccos, grown mild, aged mild, and blended mild. No wonder they satisfy so completely._ > > Stranger With seating furniture [supplied by](http://www.distinctivechesterfields.com/usa/) … ---
**Author:** ![Lamoral](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/lamoral/32/16078_2.png) [@Lamoral](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Lamoral)\ **Post date:** [March 17, 2018, 10:44pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/nitrogen-execution-now-in-america/810714/39 "2018-03-17T22:44:52Z")
> [@Johnny\_L.A](#): > > Based on comments I’ve seen from certain demographic populations, there may be people who would pay to do it. ☹ Oh, people would be outbidding each other to do it. _Black Mirror_ is no shit. That is the future. I’m fine with the death penalty, I just think they should shoot them in the head instead of trying to make a big spectacle of how humane. They could build some kind of robotic device to fire the bullet. ---
**Author:** ![Stranger\_On\_A\_Train](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/13edae/32.png) [@Stranger\_On\_A\_Train](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Stranger_On_A_Train)\ **Post date:** [March 17, 2018, 11:07pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/nitrogen-execution-now-in-america/810714/40 "2018-03-17T23:07:28Z")
> [@Jacquernagy](#): > > I’m fine with the death penalty, I just think they should shoot them in the head instead of trying to make a big spectacle of how humane. They could build some kind of robotic device to fire the bullet. [Probably not the best idea…](https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=A9l9wxGFl4k) Stranger [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/nitrogen-execution-now-in-america/810714.md?page=1) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/nitrogen-execution-now-in-america/810714.md?page=3)