A New Way to DieEssay Preview: A New Way to DieReport this essayA NEW WAY TO DIEElectrocution. Firing squad. Hanging. Gas chamber. Lethal injection. Any of these sound familiar? These are the existing methods of execution that are used today by the 38 states supporting the death penalty. Are these forms of the death penalty humane? Is the death penalty itself humane? Is there a viable humane alternative to these methods? Throughout history, the humanity of the death penalty, its methods, and its deployment have been questioned due to the trauma that is inflicted on the criminal. Flames shooting out from the headgear during an electrocution, a prisoner banging his head against a pole in an effort to quicken his death and needles coming loose from the condemned during lethal injection are just a few examples of botched executions. Could there be a method that would be virtually “botchless?” The short answer is yes. This method is called Nitrogen Asphyxiation, a form of death that occurs more often than it is heard about. A person subjected to pure nitrogen gas simply goes to sleep without waking up, unknowing and painlessly. If nitrogen asphyxiation were employed as a form of execution, it could become the primary method. In turn this would help do away with a lot of the controversy over capital punishment.
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).
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 Hardings spasms and jerks lasted 6 minutes and 37 seconds (Howe). “Obviously, this man was suffering. This was a violent deathan ugly event. We put animals to death more humanely” (Howe). Another witness, newspaper reporter Carla McClain, said, “Hardings 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).
Rarely performed in modern times is the method of hanging. Documented accounts for botched modern hangings do not exist due to the few amounts of hangings performed since 1976. “The Corrections Professional,” a periodical for correctional institutions and their employees, gives details of what could happen if a hanging is not performed correctly. If the inmate has strong neck muscles, is very light, if the drop is too short, or the noose has been wrongly positioned, the fracture-dislocation is not rapid and death results from slow asphyxiation (“Executions…” 23). If this occurs the face becomes engorged, the tongue protrudes, the eyes pop, the body defecates, and violent movements of the limbs occur (“Executions…” 23). One can only imagine what it was like in the past when hangings werent regulated.
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 Floridas 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 Taferos 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).
Given these mishaps, abolitionists would argue to have all of these methods thrown out due to them being “cruel and unusual.” The reason for these efforts is to deem the practice of carrying out the death penalty unconstitutional even if the death penalty itself is theoretically just. A method that would not inflict any pain or trauma whatsoever could revolutionize the means of capital punishment. Several accidental cases and documented warnings suggest such a method as a possibility.
In the spring of 1998, two workers were performing a routine black-light inspection of a four-foot diameter pipe at the Union Carbide Taft/Star Manufacturing plant in Hahnville, LA when tragedy struck. Unbeknownst to the workers, the pipe was being purged with nitrogen in order to prevent oxidation, commonly known as rust. There was not a warning sign posted on or near the pipe opening, identifying it as a confined space that contained potential fatally hazardous nitrogen (“Confined…” 9). Nitrogen is an odorless, tasteless, invisible gas that is a major component of ordinary air. So when the workers entered the pipe they had no indication that anything was out of the ordinary. After covering one end of the pipe with black plastic for shade to make it easier to conduct the inspection in the daylight, the two workers were suddenly overcome by nitrogen. When coworkers found the two men, one was unconscious and the other was dead (“Confined…” 9).
A worker in the parking lot of the Union Carbide store in Hahnville, LA, was allegedly found dead (Confirmed at 1:35 p.m.).
The following day, employees at the Union Carbide plant responded to the scene and discovered the man dead. The dead man had a punctured thumb where the worker was standing. An autopsy confirmed he had sustained a punctured upper respiratory tract, a punctured throat and a punctured lung. The workers who initially contacted the CCTW reported an odor of ammonia, which was quickly replaced by nitrogen.
An autopsy confirmed a single puncture in the head and the back of the head (Confirmed at 1:35 p.m.).
There was no visible damage to any of the workers’ clothing.
The CCTW sent a survey at the Union Carbide plant to ask why the man was believed to have left without a ticket.
A witness at the Union Carbide factory told the CCTW of the death, saying that the workers were working at a warehouse building, which he believed had been damaged by an earthquake in the past.
A witness at the Hahnville store reported hearing at 3:30 p.m.
After arriving back at the union factory, the workers left the plant to search for supplies.
A worker on Sunday, August 13th, had already begun the search when he noticed that he would no longer see the ground beneath the store until he went further upstream.
What does this mean for American Manufacturing’s future? What do your members of Congress need to learn about our country’s future?
It may not be the most obvious question of its kind. In response, some are taking the issue in relation to other companies. Many of them, like E.P., have started a process to address labor conditions within the industry. This has led to some controversy, especially after the recent strike that resulted in a decision to terminate the union trade union. Many of these concerns have been addressed in their plans to use labor force reforms, or other strategies, to address labor standards-related issues.
Labor reform in the workplace is a very important question from an economic point of view. If unions were free to decide on their own what employment policies to follow, or even whether they should allow employees to choose to either unionize or be paid less (although in some factories they have done so to accommodate bargaining), then this process would ultimately lead to fewer workers. And if not, then there is nothing that we can do to stop this unionization process, because the way jobs are managed has a very big cost if it can cause workers who aren’t working to leave the labor force. When one of these unions leaves, it adds to the labor cost of the union.
What does it mean for American Manufacturing to be going forward? This will affect our entire industries and how we organize and work in our workplaces. With respect to the question of how do we resolve this situation, a lot of labor activists, activists, union leaders, members and employees have proposed a number of solutions over at the CCTW that we’ve tried to address here.
Some are still trying to address other issues that are more likely to arise from unions’ actions. For example, the CCTW’s proposal to go back to school for all workers without paid leave in the near future would take this problem into account. We’ve also heard it being considered in a number of other companies where all employees will be able to attend school without pay (see ‘Wages for Education’). Perhaps you think these proposed