Capital Punishment
After a number of accidents in which humans suffocated in nitrogen without any warning, the suggestion was made in 1995 that hypoxic atmospheres be used for the humane killing of humans.
Execution by nitrogen asphyxiation was discussed briefly in print as a theoretical method of capital punishment in a National Review article, "Killing with kindness – capital punishment by nitrogen asphyxiation".
In a televised documentary in 2007, the British political commentator (and former Member of Parliament) Michael Portillo examined execution techniques in use around the world and found them unsatisfactory; his conclusion was that nitrogen asphyxiation would be the best method.
Nitrogen asphyxiation is not currently used by any government as an execution method.
Read more about this topic: Nitrogen Asphyxiation
Famous quotes containing the words capital punishment, capital and/or punishment:
“We make needless ado about capital punishment,—taking lives, when there is no life to take.”
—Henry David Thoreau (1817–1862)
“It is a capital blunder; as you discover, when another man recites his charities.”
—Ralph Waldo Emerson (1803–1882)
“That thing of hell and eternal punishment is the most absurd, as well as the most disagreeable thought that ever entered into the head of mortal man.”
—George Berkeley (1685–1753)