A New Low? Livestreaming an Execution - Emgage

 

Trump has approved Secretary Hegseth’s decision to livestream the execution of former US Army psychiatrist Nidal Hasan, who was convicted in 2009 of killing 13 people and injuring 32 others at the Fort Hood military base in Texas. His execution, scheduled for December 3, will be carried out by a firing squad. Hasan was convicted of 13 counts of premeditated murder and 32 counts of attempted premeditated murder, to which he was sentenced to death. The Army did not seek terrorism charges nor was Hasan ever convicted of terrorism.  Death by firing squad is legal and not considered “cruel and unusual punishment,” as outlined by the Eighth Amendment and is currently practiced by five states, including Idaho, Mississippi, Oklahoma, South Carolina, and Utah. Earlier this year, Trump announced he will allow execution by firing squad in the federal prison system. However, U.S. law prohibits the recording or broadcasting of executions in federal prison systems. The military also does not generally allow public executions, like Hasan’s, who was convicted in a military court, but this can be waived by the Army’s provost marshal general. Moreover, the UN Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights has noted the livestreaming of an execution is “tantamount to a public execution” and violates the Convention Against Torture, which the Reagan administration ratified in 1988.  This is also not popular amongst Congress. Democrats have openly expressed backlash and even some Republicans are balking at the decision, calling it “beyond disgusting.” Still others like Rep. Andy Ogles (R- TN) expressed delight, stating in a social media post, “Excellent. Public execution is what this terrorist deserves.”

Is there precedence? There is a history of Americans attending public executions, practiced largely in the 20th century, with many believing that viewing executions may serve as a deterrent. However, there is no conclusive evidence that suggests public viewing, or the death penalty in general, deters crime. Rather, there are concerns that it encourages dehumanization, desensitizes the public, and instead becomes a spectacle akin to a festival, reminiscent of the treatment of lynchings.  Additionally, because there were historically few large public spectacles, public executions attracted crowds, especially in rural communities, that would be accompanied by choirs, religious sermons, and speeches. But these events typically devolved into situations where the crowd treated the executions as celebrations or parties.  The last public execution was in 1936 of Rainey Bethea, a Black man who was hanged for allegedly raping a white woman, but who was not charged with murder. In such cases, these executions drew crowds, and accounts typically described spectators as eager to watch and jeering.  However, there has never been a case of an execution that has been broadcast live to the public. The closest examples would be Timothy McVeigh, the Oklahoma City bomber, whose execution was watched in person or via closed-circuit television by families of his victims and the recordings of former Iraqi president Saddam Hussein’s execution, which were circulated online and through television broadcasters.