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gas chamber
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What is a gas chamber?
A gas chamber is a sealed device used to execute condemned prisoners with lethal gas. The first use of gas chambers in the United States was in 1921, with its adoption by Nevada in an attempt to make capital punishment more humane.
In California, the inmate was strapped to a chair inside a sealed octagonal chamber. The executioner would mix cyanide crystals into a container of sulfuric acid and distilled water, creating hydrocyanic gas that the inmate inhaled.
The United Nations Human Rights Committee has regarded gas chambers as inhumane and torturous. Outside the U.S., Nazi Germany used gas chambers to murder Jews and other groups during the Holocaust.
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What type of gas is released in a gas chamber for executions?
The type of gas used in gas chambers for executions has varied. In the past, hydrogen cyanide gas was produced by mixing sodium cyanide crystals with sulfuric acid and water, as was the case in California's gas chamber. However, more recently, nitrogen hypoxia has emerged as a method, where the prisoner inhales nitrogen gas, depriving them of oxygen.
As of 2024, Alabama, Mississippi, and Oklahoma have authorized nitrogen hypoxia as a method of execution.
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Which countries have used gas chambers for executions?
The gas chamber was first used in the U.S. in 1921. By 1955, 11 states had adopted it, but by the early 21st century, only California and Missouri allowed prisoners to choose between lethal injection and lethal gas.
From 1921 to 1972, lethal gas was used in about 600 executions; from 1976 to 1999, it was used in only 11. The United Nations Human Rights Committee has considered California’s gas chamber torturous and inhumane.
Outside the United States, no other country has adopted lethal gas as a constitutional method of capital punishment. However, during the Holocaust, Nazi Germany used gas chambers to kill Jews and other groups.
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How does the process work inside a gas chamber during an execution?
The gas chamber is a method of execution using lethal gas. In California's procedure, the inmate is strapped to a chair inside a sealed, octagonal chamber. Below the chair is a container filled with sulfuric acid, distilled water, and sodium cyanide crystals. The executioner releases a lever, mixing the cyanide crystals into the liquid, creating hydrocyanic gas, which the inmate inhales.
The active ingredient in the gas, hydrogen cyanide (HCN), disrupts the body's ability to use oxygen by blocking electron transfer, harming the lungs, blood vessels, heart, and brain. Initial symptoms include dizziness, nausea, and rapid heart rate. As exposure continues, severe symptoms such as convulsions, falling blood pressure, slowed heart rate, respiratory failure, and ultimately, death occur.
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Why have gas chambers become less common for executions today?
Gas chambers have become less common for executions due to the perception of being unconstitutionally cruel and the high costs of maintaining them. A federal appeals court ruled California's lethal gas statute as violating the Eighth Amendment, which prohibits cruel and unusual punishments, because it can cause extreme pain for several minutes.
As of 2024, lethal gas is available as an option in a few states, but prisoners usually have a choice between lethal injection and lethal gas. From 1976 to 1999, lethal gas was only used in 11 executions. The last execution by gas chamber in the United States was in 1999.
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gas chamber, method of executing condemned prisoners by lethal gas.
The gas chamber was first adopted in the U.S. state of Nevada in 1921 in an effort to provide a more humane form of capital punishment. On February 8, 1924, Gee Jon became the first person to be executed by lethal gas. By 1955, 11 U.S. states had adopted the gas chamber as their method of execution, but by the early 21st century it was available in only two states (California and Missouri), where condemned prisoners were allowed to choose between lethal injection and lethal gas. In Arizona, inmates sentenced to death before November 1992 were allowed to choose between lethal injection and lethal gas; in Wyoming, lethal gas was designated to replace lethal injection if the latter method was ruled unconstitutional. From 1921 to 1972 (when the U.S. Supreme Court commenced its moratorium on the death penalty), lethal gas was applied in some 600 executions; from 1976 (when the moratorium ended) to 1999 it was used in only 11 executions. The high cost of renovating disused gas chambers, as well as a growing perception of the method as unconstitutionally cruel, contributed to this trend, leading some scholars to predict in the early 21st century that the method would not be used again.
California’s lethal gas procedure (the most thoroughly documented) was carried out in a sealed, modified octagonal chamber. The inmate was strapped to a chair with holes in the seat, below which was placed a container of sulfuric acid, distilled water, and sodium cyanide crystals. The executioner pulled a lever that mixed the cyanide crystals into the sulfuric acid–water container to create the hydrocyanic gas that the inmate inhaled. Although there is a consensus that cyanide affects many parts of the body, it is unclear at which point an individual becomes unconscious or dies, because pain and consciousness are difficult to measure. In 1996 a federal appeals court unanimously held that California’s statute authorizing lethal gas violated the U.S. Constitution’s Eighth Amendment prohibition against cruel and unusual punishments, based on a lower court’s conclusion that gassed inmates can suffer an extreme amount of pain and that there is a substantial likelihood that such pain would last for several minutes. (Over time, eyewitnesses had also reported a number of long and gruesome lethal gas executions in California and other states.)
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The U.S. Supreme Court has never ruled on the constitutionality of lethal gas. It did, however, vacate the federal appeals court ruling that lethal gas was unconstitutional because the California legislature called for lethal injection unless a prisoner specifically requested lethal gas. The United Nations Human Rights Committee has considered California’s gas chamber torturous and inhumane.
Outside the United States no other country has adopted lethal gas as a constitutional method of carrying out capital punishment. During the Holocaust, however, Nazi Germany employed gas chambers for the purpose of killing Jews and other targeted groups. The chambers were established at concentration camps and usually disguised as bathhouses. Men, women, and children were herded naked into the chambers after being told that they were going to take showers. The doors were closed, and poison gas was injected. See also extermination camp.