controversy over capital punishment.

All executions currently used today involve inflicting some sort of trauma to carry out the sentence. Moreover, each method can and has gone askew. On April 6, 1992 in an Arizona gas chamber, Donald Harding was not pronounced dead until 10 1/2 minutes after the cyanide tablets were dropped (Howe). During the execution, Harding thrashed and struggled violently against the restraining straps. A television journalist who witnessed the execution, Cameron Harper, said that Harding’s spasms and jerks lasted 6 minutes and 37 seconds (Howe). “Obviously, this man was suffering. This was a violent death…an ugly event. We put animals to death more humanely” (Howe). Another witness, newspaper reporter Carla McClain, said, “Harding’s death was extremely violent. He was in great pain. I heard him gasp and moan. I saw his body turn from red to purple” (Howe).

Seen to be the most controversial method of the death penalty is electrocution. In one of the most famous accounts of electrocution gone wrong is that of Florida’s own Jessie Joseph Tafero. On May 4th of 1990 Tafero was strapped into the notorious chair that is widely know as “Old Sparky.” The switch was thrown and 2000 volts of electricity surged though his body. During the execution, six-inch flames erupted from Tafero’s head, and three jolts of power were required to stop his breathing. State officials claimed that the botched execution was caused by, “inadvertent human error,” the inappropriate substitution of a synthetic sponge for a natural sponge that had been used in previous executions (Barnett).

In October of 1994, a judge in a California state court ruled that the gas chamber is a form of cruel and unusual punishment (Murphy). This account was the first ruling ever by a state or federal judge to invalidate a method of execution. The judge noted that the condemned might remain conscious for several minutes after the beginning of the execution and experience, “anxiety, panic, terror,” and, “exquisitely painful muscle spasms,” with, “Intense visceral pain” (Murphy).

It is not necessary for nitrogen to displace all 21% of oxygen normally found in the air in order to cause harm to people. OSHA requires that oxygen levels be maintained at or above 19.5% in order to prevent injury to workers (“Accident…”). According to the Compressed Gas Association, “exposure to

Some topics in this essay:
Nicholas Jenkins, Gas Association, Joseph Tafero, Nitrogen Asphyxiation, Hahnville LA, Union Carbide, Hanging Gas, Corrections Professional”, Donald Harding, Harper Harding’s, death penalty, carbon dioxide, blood oxygen, blood oxygen level, nitrogen asphyxiation, oxygen level, percent oxygen, gas chamber, urge breathe, exposure atmosphere containing, pure nitrogen, capital punishment, level falls low, “confined…” 9 nitrogen, “compressed…” exposure atmosphere,