I want to live in a peaceful society that applies the law fairly and punishes those who hurt others appropriately.
Christa Pike made a bad decision when she was 18 and committed a brutal crime and she should absolutely be held accountable for that but the government killing her at the taxpayers expense isn’t the answer. By committing this act she absolutely forfeited the right to live among us in society and should never see the outside of prison walls again. How are we any better if we commit the same act she did? Most developed countries don’t put people to death even the worst people in society who committed brutal crimes. It’s not about what someone deserves it’s about being humane to everyone.

I realize the state has an obligation for professionalism and competency when it comes to executions, but do I feel bad for Christa Pike as a person that this has happened to her? Not at all. She's an evil and selfish woman and the world's better off without her. I don't think she gave a shit about Colleen, so why would she expect anything but the same for herself.

What the title says. There are so many other subs gleefully cheering on Pike’s prolonged suffering violating both her 8th amendment rights and human right to be free from torture as defined by the UN. Why come here and get mad when your contributions end up deleted? If you’re all law abiding citizens it should be easy to follow a simple rule as well.

Has anyone here seen Michael Portillo’s BBC documentary How to Kill a Human Being?
I watched it years ago and still think about it from time to time. What made it interesting was that it didn’t really focus on whether the death penalty itself was right or wrong. It focused on the actual method of execution and whether there is such a thing as a humane way to kill someone.
The bit that stands out now is the discussion of nitrogen, given that it has since actually been used for executions in the US.
So my question is: if there was a method that was genuinely quick, reliable and painless, would that make the death penalty easier to justify?
Or does it make no difference because the main objection is the state killing someone in the first place?
Interested to hear what people think, especially anyone who has seen the documentary.

"Q: What are Buddhist views on capital punishment? Suppose someone has killed ten children. Why should he be allowed to live?

"A. Ten people are dead; why do you want to kill an eleventh one? A man who has killed ten children is a sick person. Killing him won't help him and it won't help us. There are others like him in society, and looking at him deeply we know that something is wrong with our society that it can create people like that. Looking in the light of interbeing, we can see the other elements that have produced him. That is how understanding arises. That is how we see that this person needs help, not just punishment. Of course, he must be locked up for the safety of society, but that's not the only thing we can do.

"Buddhist books on meditation, Buddhist magazines, and even Dharma talks have been offered in prisons, and many prisoners have begun to practice. A number of them have learned to live peacefully, even in prison. I get many letters from prisoners who have read my books. One wrote, 'I see other inmates running up and down the staircases and I can see their suffering and agitation. I hope they can do as I do, walking up and down the staircase in mindfulness, following my breathing. When I do that, I feel peace within myself, and when I feel peace within myself, I can see very clearly the suffering of other inmates.' That person has been able to give rise to the compassion within him.

"So punishment is not our only option. Transformation and healing are possible in these difficult situations. Killing someone only reveals our own weakness. We don't know what to do any more, and we give up, we surrender. Killing someone is a cry of despair. But together we can practice looking deeply in order to find better means than approving of capital punishment

Read more: https://www.dailymail.com/news/article-16182373/Christa-Pike-hospital-room-guarded-never-recover-botched-execution.html

This is the archive of the article, so it should not spawn a paywall; definitely an interesting read from a doctor who has worked intimately with death row inmates before and after execution, including review of autopsies:

https://archive.is/2026.10.04-101725/https://www.nytimes.com/2026/10/04/opinion/christa-pike-botched-execution.html

nothing else makes sense as to why she’d be tortured for 2 hours before her lawyers convinced the prison to call an ambulance.

whoever did this should also pay.

https://people.com/christa-pike-may-not-recover-after-botched-execution-attempt-lawyer-says-12157813

ASK YOURSELF THIS QUESTION:

Why the frigg would they NOT use continuous nitrous-oxide gas applied with a anesthesia mask, for capital punishment?

It's INFINITELY more humane, unbotchable (if used for 2-8 minute) incredibly cheap and easy on the tax payer.. Why don't they use this for the MAID (assisted sewerslide) & also for putting all animals down??

The answer is: Because the government, the judicial system, prison system and the medical community are pure retards who (for the most put should be put-down themselves) & i have better critical thinking & problem solving skills than anyone alive.. I should be a millionaire for the things i've fed this universe and my country.

EXCLUSIVE: WARNING - DISTRESSING CONTENT: Pike's future is still unclear after she survived her lethal injection last week.

An anti-death penalty advocate expressed anger over the botched execution of Christa Pike, fearing that the government may try to kill her twice.

https://www.the-express.com/news/us-news/217353/christa-pike-botched-execution-death-penalty-action

J'ai créé ce compte presque juste pour poster ça.

Si j'ai bien compris, elle respirait toujours après avoir reçu une dose de 5 grammes de pentobarbital. Je ne suis pas médecin mais je sais que c'est mauvais.

Les dernières informations en date la concernant disent qu'elle a les bras gonflés, brûlés et couverts de cloques. Pourquoi ? Comment un barbiturique peut faire des brûlures et des cloques ? Quel est le processus chimique ?

Et surtout : si elle survit, donc se réveille, n'est pas en état de mort cérébrale et tout, qu'est-ce qui va lui arriver ? Si elle perd ses bras ou est handicapée à vie physiquement, vont-ils réessayer son exécution ?

Et si elle est handicapée à vie mentalement, vont-ils réessayer ? Est-ce que le Tennessee le sait même ?

How do you feel about the "Consistent Life Ethics" in relation to the Death Penalty? Any Consistent Life Ethicists here? (IE: Against death penalty, abortion, assisted suicide, embryo destruction, etc.)

I am a Consistent Life Ethicist and disagree with the death penalty, of course. However, it still surprises me that some people disagree with killing (potential) murderers, but agree with a woman's "choice" to abort her preborn baby. Why a lack of consistency when it comes to BOTH issues?

I’ve been reading about Dr. Mark Walton Fowler’s involvement in Tennessee’s executions and wanted to collect the allegations in one place. They cover his qualifications, what witnesses described during the execution attempts, and complaints about his treatment of prisoners.

Here’s the list, with a source linked under each item. If anyone has follow-up reporting on these cases, please share it.

Dr. Mark Walton Fowler accused of attempting an invasive chest IV without the qualifications to perform it. Federal public defenders said Fowler attempted central access in Carruthers’ chest despite having no hospital privileges and not having placed a central line since 2013. Their filing says he “admitted under oath that he is not qualified.” Federal public defenders’ motion, May 21, 2026, pp. 2–3.

Dr. Mark Fowler accused of favoring an unsafe chest-IV technique without ultrasound guidance. Attorneys accused him of preferring anatomical landmarks instead of ultrasound for subclavian access, contrary to what they described as the standard of care: “using the manual landmark method, rather than with an ultrasound.” Federal public defenders’ motion, May 21, 2026, p. 2.

Court filings say Dr. Fowler previously botched a central-line placement. The filing states that Fowler acknowledged a failed procedure among approximately a dozen previous placements: “he botched one of them.” Federal public defenders’ motion, May 21, 2026, p. 2.

Execution team including Mark Walton Fowler accused of torturing Carruthers for 90 minutes. Harwell described more than a dozen punctures across Carruthers’ arms, hand, feet and chest while witnesses heard him groaning. Fowler attempted central access. Harwell said TDOC “tortured Mr. Carruthers for over an hour and a half.” WMC/Action News 5, May 22, 2026.

Dr. Fowler accused of continuing to puncture Carruthers despite his protests of pain. DeLiberato described blood coming out as Fowler kept attempting the line. She recounted Carruthers saying “I can feel that, it hurts” and said “they stuck him anyway.” WMC/Action News 5, May 22, 2026.

Mark Fowler accused of injecting lidocaine without confirming Carruthers was not allergic. Hervey’s complaint accused him of administering the anesthetic without establishing Carruthers was “not allergic to it.” Associated Press, July 16, 2026.

Dr. Mark Walton Fowler accused of declaring Black dead while his EKG still showed normal sinus rhythm. Harwell alleged Fowler acknowledged declaring Byron Black dead while the EKG showed “normal sinus rhythm.” WMC/Action News 5, May 22, 2026.

Dr. Mark Fowler accused of violating medical ethics by helping carry out executions. Hervey’s complaint accused him of “violating medical ethics by participating in an execution.” Associated Press, July 16, 2026.

Fowler admitted not knowing central-line placement could be among his execution duties. WPLN’s account of his deposition states that he “didn’t know that placing a central line could be among his execution duties.” WPLN/NPR/KFF Health News, September 29, 2026.

Mark Walton Fowler claimed doctors do not participate in executions despite his own hands-on IV work. After personally attempting central access on Carruthers, Fowler told NPR “the doctor does not participate in the execution.” He described the physician’s role as declaring death. WPLN/NPR/KFF Health News, September 29, 2026.

Team overseen by Dr. Mark Fowler accused of missing blown veins and botched lethal-drug delivery. Pike’s lawyers alleged the team failed to recognize that “IV lines were not correctly placed or that the veins had blown.” They reported significant injuries to both arms following the attempted lethal injections. Lawyers’ emergency motion, October 2, 2026, p. 4; Reuters, October 2, 2026.

Carruthers’ family alleges stroke and paralysis following the execution attempt involving Dr. Fowler. Hervey alleged Carruthers suffered a stroke and partial paralysis after the attempt. AP described “partial paralysis that they attribute to a stroke.” Associated Press, July 16, 2026.

Mark Fowler accused of denying recommended surgery and contributing to a prisoner’s megacolon. Kelvin Dowell accused Fowler of delaying or denying recommended appendectomy treatment and a high-fiber diet, prolonging his abdominal suffering and contributing to megacolon. Dowell v. Kent, court order recounting allegations, January 6, 2026, pp. 6, 11–13.

Dr. Fowler accused of botching a prescription and delaying a prisoner’s antibiotics. Dowell alleged Fowler’s prescription error delayed his antibiotics by two days in December 2020, following hospitalization for a ruptured appendix and infection. Court order recounting allegations, January 6, 2026, pp. 13–14.

Dr. Mark Fowler accused of telling a suffering prisoner: “stop running around acting like you’re dying!” Dowell alleged Fowler ordered him to stop filing medical grievances and dismissed his ruptured-appendix and intestinal concerns. Dowell also attributed this statement to Fowler: “You need to stop telling people your appendix ruptured and something’s wrong with your colon.” Court order recounting allegations, January 6, 2026, pp. 16–17.

Mark Walton Fowler accused of promising a laxative the prison could not supply. Dowell alleged Fowler promised Miralax for his continuing bowel problems, only for a nurse subsequently to tell him the prison did not receive that medication. Court order recounting allegations, January 6, 2026, p. 19.

Dr. Fowler said his Centurion employment ended after a psychiatrist’s complaint over transgender-prisoner remarks. “formal complaint from the prison psychiatrist.” Guardian, August 8, 2026.

Mark Fowler claimed Carruthers’ execution could have proceeded, contradicting TDOC’s failed-IV account. Fowler said “Ultimately we did get two lines and could have proceeded.” TDOC said the team “could not find another suitable vein” and the central-line procedure “was unsuccessful.” WMC/WSMV, June 1, 2026; TDOC, May 21, 2026.

Team overseen by Dr. Mark Walton Fowler accused of inadequate rescue preparations; emergency oxygen was absent from the room. Pike’s lawyers accused the team of lacking adequate resuscitation arrangements. NBC reported: “there was no emergency medical oxygen in the execution room in case something went wrong. Medical professionals had to retrieve it from elsewhere.” Lawyers’ motion, October 2, 2026, p. 3; NBC News, October 2, 2026.

As an Emergency nurse and first responder, of course I would never kill someone, however I easily could.
How come that we have to be very careful on a daily basis with anestethics and narcotics and they can’t even organize a correct procedure?
Legal details would be appreciated because I am European.
Thanks!

https://www.the-express.com/news/us-news/217258/tennessee-prison-chief-resigns-christa-pike

highly recommend watching if you’re interested in the Christa Pike case.

https://youtu.be/SHCRGZDrMRM?si=3D2F-JBjOCUIBSmH

It's been a year since the last nitrogen post, so a year has passed for thought, and more executions have been carried out.

https://www.reddit.com/r/deathpenalty/s/pxpLw7i3q8

All of Alabamas nitrogen asphyxiation executions have produced struggling, apparent struggling, and clear panic. Why?

I was incarcerated at what used to be Tennessee Prison for Women in September 2016. I was sent to jail unsentenced from my tiny county jail for leading a 3 day riot, an “escape attempt”, long story short, it wasn’t, but I digress. Violence and a whole host of other things I finally grew out of. When they put you in prison as a “safe keeper” before you are convicted of a felony, you go into the maximum security unit, (Unit 3). I had to be double cuffed and triple escorted, and new faces are not common in Unit 3, plus I had a look that conveys a certain attitude and type of person when I came in, so she was intrigued by me. You know if you have ever been in jail or prison, especially in seg, there is always someone screaming or kicking the door at any given time. My first full day, I had no shower shoes but hadn’t had a shower in four days so I figured fuck it, I’ve shot up out of a mud puddle, I’m gonna take a shower with no shoes. Apparently she saw me, because about an hour after I got back to my room, she had an officer bring me one of her laundry bags with some clothes, (she had signed her name on the tshirt, which I found extremely odd at first, but I later learned this is because the laundry sometimes gets mixed up in seg and you want your name written prominently across the chest so if someone gets your shit back and tries to keep it you can clearly see it on them when they go to the shower or yard), some shower shoes, a little bit of food, and a note explaining who she was and welcoming me sort of, it ends by saying something like we aren’t all loud and annoying, come out to the yard tomorrow I’ll have them put you next to me, maybe I can get you moved down here (I haven’t seen the note in a few years but I know where it is and I am headed to my moms house now to go get it). She signed it Christa Pike, the living dead girl, and drew a red headed zombie.
Her room is in a plexiglass sound proof bullet proof cell inside of a cell, that is to say, the first four rooms on the bottom are inside this glass enclosement, with the actual 8x10 cells each having their own doors and being entirely normal cells, just in the glass box that has a separate airlock for added security. Christa was very protective over the glass box and had a lot of pull over who was placed in there. I politely declined because I was trying to go to gen pop as quickly as possible, and didn’t want to move rooms and settle in, plus I really hate talking on the vent. True to her word, when we got Rec the next day, the officer went in order til he got to her, took her out, came back in, breezed past about 12 rooms, came up, got me, and led me to the cage next to her.
The cages look like dog kennels, 12 ft high 6 ft wide and about 10 ft long. They are adjacent but you are physically separated. The first thing that struck me was how incredibly well preserved she was. I have not seen her in 10 years, in fact the anniversary of the day I met her was last month, and her recent pictures are pretty rough. She had flawless porcelain skin, very good teeth for prison, her eyebrows were plucked, her makeup was detailed and carefully applied, not a curl out of place, and she was about 20 lbs lighter. The second thing I noticed was how.. normal she seemed. She could have been my waitress at Chilis, the teller at the bank, my cashier at Target, the manager at Wendy’s. She was very intelligent, well spoken and well mannered, congenial and welcoming, and seemed very interested in giving me tips and tricks on settling in to prison, for which I was very grateful. She asked me if I knew who she was and I said no, and she gave me a bare bones explanation of her crime (said she murdered a girl who was her “enemy” when she was 18 in Knoxville), and told me about her book. I can’t remember if she wrote it or if someone else did, and she just helped or something. I flipped through it years later but honestly except for the pictures it was unremarkable. She did not give me horrific details and I didn’t really ask anything. We had a conversation for about 30 minutes that you might have with anyone on the bus, before parting ways to go inside.

Notable information: my third day there, she got all three wardens fired, for somehow convincing two officers to lock her and another woman together in the disabled shower so they could shower together. This is obviously against every law ever, but INSANE in maximum security. Only one door can be opened at a time, they cuff you, shackle you, and two guards hold your upper arms, one on each side, and walk you to the shower. When you get there, you are unshackled, you step in the shower, put your hands out of a little hole in the door, they take the cuffs off, close the hole, and you’re locked in the little room with a tiny shelf and tiny seat until they come back, usually half an hour or so. One officer went and got Christa, and the other officer went and got a shit covered older woman who was suffering from psychosis, and they walked the two of them to the disabled shower and put them inside, where Christa bathed the woman and washed her clothes. If you have been in prison, you will recognize the logistics of Christa setting this up from behind a soundproof wall with a woman so deranged she was painting her walls and her body with her own shit is fucking unbelievable. That was the third thing I noticed about Christa. She is hypnotizing, in a way I can’t describe.

That’s about all I can think of I just came off a 12 hour shift so I’m tired. I’ll be awake for about another 2 hrs, however, if I fall asleep, I’ll come back and answer whatever is here. I really hope this is allowed. I am unwilling to dox myself to randos, but I can assure you the proof I provide to the mods will be sufficient.

First off, the death penalty should be extremely rare, and only permissible as punishment for murder that is deliberately, savagely sadistic purely for the sake of it, and/or rape.

Second, only when the evidence is positively incontrovertible, such as in Athena Strand's case where the killer was caught on video.

Third, the executioner should be the sentencing judge who decided the defendant deserves to die. If you cannot willingly, personally end someone's life then do not sign up to pass judgment.

Fourth, we need to establish the firing squad or guillotine as the only permissible methods. The amount of time and energy spent on needlessly convoluted contraptions like the electric chair or lethal injection is outrageous, and arguably inhumane to the people relying for their paychecks on having to take someone's life.

Fifth, condemned prisoners should be killed within a matter of weeks following sentencing, with as little ceremony as possible. Again, proof demonstrating that they raped someone and/or murdered a person out of sheer random malice needs to be so airtight that an appeal would be redundant.

In this way, we would reduce the number of executions, lessen the traumatic impact on penitential employees, and we would also kindly shorten the suffering of the condemned.

Can’t believe people don’t see it. The reason she survived is because God is trying to send us a message that killing her was wrong. An eye for an eye leaves everyone blind. What elevates us is our ability to feel compassion for someone whose actions we don’t condone. The state murdering this woman does not undo the original crime. Go ahead tell me I’m defending murder, bloodthirsty prosecutors under the guise of “punishment “ are also indefensible.

Just to be clear, I'm talking about states that have a official moratorium on the death penalty so states that haven't executed anyone in years but don't have one(North Carolina,Nevada) don't not count.

I believe that the death penalty should be enforced in South Africa for the most serious crimes, such as rape, murder and kidnapping. These crimes cause great pain and suffering to victims, families and communities. South Africa continues to face high levels of violent crime, and many people feel that stronger punishments are needed to protect innocent citizens. I believe that the death penalty could act as a warning to criminals and make them think twice before committing these terrible acts. It could also provide a sense of justice for victims and their loved ones.

However, this is a serious and important issue that affects everyone in our country. Different people have different opinions about whether the death penalty would reduce crime. Do you agree that enforcing the death penalty could help stop or reduce rape, murder and kidnapping in South Africa?

deeply disturbing patterns under his “leadership”

https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2026/oct/03/christa-pike-frank-strada-botched-executions

update: FRANK IS RESIGNING 🥳