# Why don't states use nitrogen chambers for the death penalty?
**URL:** https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-dont-states-use-nitrogen-chambers-for-the-death-penalty/960698
**Category:** In My Humble Opinion
**Created:** [March 8, 2022, 8:23pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-dont-states-use-nitrogen-chambers-for-the-death-penalty/960698 "2022-03-08T20:23:35Z")
**Posts on this page:** 6
**Page:** 6
### Author:  [@RitterSport](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/RitterSport)
#### Post date: [January 29, 2024, 5:16pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-dont-states-use-nitrogen-chambers-for-the-death-penalty/960698/101 "2024-01-29T17:16:06Z")
> [@Jasmine](#):
>
> You put murderer in a sealed chamber, open a single valve, and let one unbreathable gas into the chamber. Voila.
This isn’t how Alabama did it. They did it with a mask over the condemned’s face.
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### Author:  [@gnoitall](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/gnoitall)
#### Post date: [January 29, 2024, 5:24pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-dont-states-use-nitrogen-chambers-for-the-death-penalty/960698/102 "2024-01-29T17:24:05Z")
The full chamber approach has a couple of evident potential drawbacks.
- I don’t know if any state has an extant gas chamber to adapt to this method, so it would be a large project from scratch.
- Gas chambers have a pretty strong historical reputation for being terribly cruel and brutal. Even if nitrogen asphixia is supposed to be kinder and gentler, there is still history and popular perception to consider.
- A gas chamber is a much larger volume of oxygen-bearing air to deplete than the contents of a full-face mask. It could take minutes (certainly tens of seconds) to reduce oxygen content below the level of consciousness. A mask eliminates useful consciousness in seconds, once the victim allows themselves to draw breath.
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### Author:  [@Jasmine](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Jasmine)
#### Post date: [January 29, 2024, 5:27pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-dont-states-use-nitrogen-chambers-for-the-death-penalty/960698/103 "2024-01-29T17:27:04Z")
> [@RitterSport](#):
>
> This isn’t how Alabama did it. They did it with a mask over the condemned’s face.
I guess that makes more sense rather than flooding an entire chamber and having to pump out the gas.
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### Author:  [@RitterSport](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/RitterSport)
#### Post date: [January 29, 2024, 5:33pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-dont-states-use-nitrogen-chambers-for-the-death-penalty/960698/104 "2024-01-29T17:33:41Z")
Also, i think a condemned person is allowed to have clergy or something nearby, which would be tricky and dangerous in a chamber.
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### Author:  [@Omar\_Little](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Omar_Little)
#### Post date: [January 29, 2024, 10:46pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-dont-states-use-nitrogen-chambers-for-the-death-penalty/960698/105 "2024-01-29T22:46:31Z")
Firing squad is legal in 4 states I believe. No worries on supply constraints.
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### Author:  [@RitterSport](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/RitterSport)
#### Post date: [January 30, 2024, 12:07am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-dont-states-use-nitrogen-chambers-for-the-death-penalty/960698/106 "2024-01-30T00:07:41Z")
At least the condemned person isn’t required to load the guns or something, although I think a bullet to the back of the head is probably more of a sure thing.
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