To the editor: Alabama's new execution method (suffocating the condemned with nitrogen) should be of interest to the nearby state of South Carolina. (“Alabama plans to carry out first run with nitrogen gas. How will it work and what are the risks?” January 21)
More than 20 members of the state Legislature are making efforts to classify abortion as murder, a crime punishable by death.
The method of causing death, however, is a problem. Should they use the electric chair, hanging, the gas chamber or a firing squad? This asphyxiation through forced inhalation of nitrogen gas seems like a humane alternative.
Alabama could offer its services to other states. It could be the first mass execution of women in North America since the Salem witch trials of the 17th century.
Those women were hanged. This nitrogen gas asphyxiation sounds better. The two periods are very similar: then, religious fanatics were killed in the name of God, and this could happen again today.
Murray Margolis, Dana Point
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To the editor: Execution with nitrogen gas in Alabama is an unnecessary and possibly cruel experiment.
This nation has used hanging, firing squads, cyanide gas, electric chairs, and lethal injection for executions. In recent years, The Times has reported problems obtaining lethal injection drugs, difficulties in administering them and accusations of cruelty.
The Times also reported on the national problem of fentanyl overdose deaths. Fentanyl is available, inexpensive, and easily administered. It is also more humane than these other execution methods.
Someone should alert the various prison directorates and state governments about the existence of this drug.
Jeffrey Schneider, Glendale
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To the editor: Capital punishment, the legal extermination of a human life, is still practiced in some of our states, such as Alabama.
That being said, many people have not given up hope that our Supreme Court will finally put an end to this obscene and barbaric anachronism, which makes our country appear ignorant and unforgiving.
According to Amnesty International, of the 193 member states of the United Nations, 54 still maintain the death penalty, and the most well-known executions that took place in the last two years occurred in China, Iran, Saudi Arabia, Egypt and the United States. in that order.
So perhaps in 2024 we can aspire to join the countries that no longer murder their evildoers, the countries that no longer abdicate hope and instead await redemption.
Fengar Gael, Irvine
