The United States has stopped public executions for nearly a century, so why are they restarting them now?

Author, Sheila Flynn

Character, Senior US Correspondent, BBC

Posted 5 minutes ago

Reading time: 2 minutes

They came in droves from all directions. Men, women and children gathered on a Kentucky riverbank to watch the public hanging of a black man convicted of raping and killing an elderly white widow.

That day was August 14, 1936, in Owensboro, Kentucky. It was a sweltering Friday during a legendary heat wave. Some people spent the night near the gallows to secure a viewing spot; others held so-called "hanging parties" the night before and came with hangovers, while teenagers sold popcorn and soda to onlookers.

By the execution time at 5 a.m., the number of people present had increased to an estimated 20,000 people.

At this moment, Rainey Bethea, an orphan in her 20s, walked to the gallows. He was previously sentenced to death after being accused of robbing, raping and killing 70-year-old Lischia Edwards.

The previous afternoon, he had enjoyed a final meal of fried chicken, pork chops, mashed potatoes, pickles, cornbread, lemon pie and ice cream.

Many people present, including reporters from Chicago and New York, came to catch a glimpse of the rumored "female executioner." The local police chief died four months ago and his widow unexpectedly succeeded him.

However, she refused to personally pull the lever that activated the hanging mechanism, so in the end it was a hired executioner who sent Bethea to her death.

That moment marked the last widely publicized public hanging in the United States. The farce surrounding Bethea's death embarrassed many in Kentucky, and the governor banned public executions 18 months later.

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By that time, most states had abolished public executions. As social attitudes changed, people favored more humane and private methods of execution. In 1937, another hanging in Missouri was attended by hundreds of people, but not much is known about it; it remained the last public execution in the United States to this day.

More than ninety years after the execution of Rainey Bethea, U.S. Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth announced that the military would publicly execute Nidal Malik Hasan, who killed 13 unarmed comrades in 2009 at Fort Hood, Texas.

The Pentagon later said that the execution, scheduled for December by firing squad, would be broadcast live online.

"People need to understand that there are serious consequences for this type of behavior," Hegseth said.

Michael Radelet, a professor emeritus at the University of Colorado who has long studied the death penalty, was shocked.

"I never thought there would be another public execution," he told the BBC.

He noted that overall public support for the death penalty has been steadily declining. For example, support was 80% in 1994 and is now 52%.

"Support dropped significantly, especially when life without parole was offered as an alternative," he said.

It's too early to tell how the American public will feel about the idea of live streaming executions. But it's likely that millions or more will be watching.

Regarding Hegseth's announcement, Radlett said: "The justification for the death penalty has become entertainment...bring your popcorn and invite your friends to come and watch."

Sonya Lea published a book about the Bethea executions just last year. When she learned that the firing squad executions would be broadcast live, she said she was "terribly frightened for our descendants."

"People in 1936 called it a sadistic orgy," she said. "The technology we have now allows it to be delivered to a much larger audience than the 20,000 people who came to Owensboro, Kentucky to watch it... It just makes it scarier."

Li Ya's grandparents were among the crowd at the execution when they were newly married teenagers. She didn't learn about it until her grandmother died in 2002. She read an account from her grandmother's lifetime that said they were close enough to the gallows to hear Bethea's neck bones snap.

The writer's subsequent years of research taught her that many Kentucky residents were haunted by the execution.

"I really thought we had put this kind of thing behind us a long time ago," she said. "This extremely horrific practice is still practiced by only a few countries in the world, such as Iran, North Korea and Afghanistan."

"Is the United States of America now considering itself a part of that kind of government? It's just horrific."

However, Kurt Gray, a professor of social psychology at Ohio State University, said the polarization and related rhetoric in American politics may have paved the way for such an announcement.

He said: "Some Americans may be eager to see bloodshed, but I think many Americans are not. And I think there are many people who are just becoming numb."

"So it's not that they're cheering for public executions, it's that they just think, 'Oh, yeah, that's where we're at now.'"

Other research suggests that Hegseth and the administration may have misjudged American public opinion.

Garen Wintemute, director of the Violence Prevention Research Program at the University of California, Berkeley, said that various surveys show that the American people's acceptance of violence is declining.

"This morning, the president of the United States Conference of Catholic Bishops called this (live broadcast announcement of the execution) a barbaric act," he said. "I think he speaks for a lot of people."

"My thought is this: public executions do not represent us," he added. "This is not what a country aspires to be."

By Friday, the debate surrounding Hegseth's sudden announcement seemed to be playing out inside the White House as well.

U.S. Vice President J.D. Vance told reporters that he was not sure whether the public execution would go ahead as planned and said he would not watch the live broadcast if it took place.