When you think of public executions, you imagine medieval times and monarchs getting their heads chopped off. You hardly expect to see this in 2026, let alone in a Western nation such as the United States.
Public executions were once intended not only to punish criminals, but also to act as a warning to those watching. However, by the 20th century, many Western countries had moved executions behind prison walls. By the 21st century, few nations, such as Iran, North Korea and Afghanistan, maintained the practice of public executions.
The last widely recognised public execution in the United States took place on 14 August 1936, when Rainey Bethea was hanged in Kentucky in front of 20,000 people. Logistical problems made a spectacle of the scene, which only reinforced the shift towards private executions.
Are ‘Firing Squads’ the Future?
In a recent interview aboard the USS Abraham Lincoln, U.S. Secretary of War Pete Hegseth announced the execution of former Army Major Nidal Hasan, which would have been the first public execution in the US in 90 years.
On 5 November 2009, Nidal Hasan carried out a mass shooting at Fort Hood, a military base in Texas. Hasan, who was serving as an Army psychiatrist, opened fire on fellow military personnel, killing 13 and leaving 32 injured. By 23 August 2013, Hasan was convicted on all charges, making him eligible for the death penalty.
‘He’s going to get a firing squad of soldiers as it should be,’ stated Hegseth, ‘and we’ll make sure that people will be able to watch it.’
Though the livestream has since been called off, as announced by President Donald Trump on Truth Social, the ethical questions prompted still remain. Had the execution been made public, what precedent would it have set for the Western world?
Domestic and International Criticism
The main controversy was not whether Hasan deserved punishment, but whether broadcasting that punishment served a legitimate public purpose or instead turned his execution into a spectacle.
The United Nations Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights has stated that livestreaming the event would be ‘tantamount to a public execution and would breach the absolute prohibition of torture.’
Agencies and politicians inside the US are calling these actions ‘disgusting.’ Vice President JD Vance expressed doubts from the beginning about whether the livestream would actually take place, saying he would not watch it if it did. However, it’s worth noting that he did not outright condemn the execution being livestreamed.
Religious leaders and lawmakers criticised the proposal, raising concerns that broadcasting an execution could undermine human dignity and turn the death penalty into entertainment. Parents also raised concerns regarding the potential for children to find and view the execution depending on its publicity.
Are Public Executions an Effective Deterrent?
One of the primary justifications for making an execution public is to deter others from doing the same. Supporters believe that witnessing the consequences of a crime will discourage others from committing similar offences.
Hegseth defended the decision to livestream the execution on similar grounds, arguing that ‘people need to understand there’s serious consequences for these types of things.’
However, there is a difference between an execution’s visibility and its impact. The U.S. National Research Council concluded in 2012 that existing research was not informative enough to determine whether the death penalty increases, decreases or has no effect on homicide rates. This does not prove that public executions have no effect, but it does mean that claims about their effectiveness should not be treated as fact.
While public executions may be intended to deter crime, there remains insufficient evidence to establish their effectiveness. They also pose serious legal and ethical challenges for any nation attempting to use them. Nearly a century after America’s last public execution, the question remains whether livestreaming an execution would strengthen the law or simply turn it into a spectacle. With the livestream freshly called off, the answer remains unknown.
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