America’s Return to Public Executions: Pentagon’s Livestream Plan Revives a Dark Chapter in US History

The United States is facing an extraordinary debate over capital punishment after the Pentagon announced plans to livestream the execution of convicted Fort Hood shooter Nidal Malik Hasan, a move that could bring public executions back into American life for the first time in nearly a century.

Hasan, a former US Army psychiatrist, was sentenced to death in 2013 for killing 13 people and attempting to murder 32 others in a shooting at Fort Hood, Texas, on November 5, 2009. His execution by firing squad is scheduled for December 3 at the same military installation where the attack occurred.

The announcement has triggered criticism from lawmakers across party lines, human rights advocates and legal experts, who question whether broadcasting an execution would cross an important ethical and legal boundary. The Pentagon has argued that making the execution public would demonstrate the consequences of serious crimes, but critics say the proposal risks turning a state-administered punishment into a public spectacle.

Public executions were once common in the United States, drawing large crowds to watch condemned prisoners being hanged. Over time, growing concerns about disorder, public humiliation and the dignity of the condemned led states to move executions behind prison walls. The 1936 hanging of Rainey Bethea in Kentucky is widely regarded as the last major public execution in the country, although another public hanging took place in Missouri the following year.

For nearly nine decades, executions in the United States have generally remained private affairs. The Pentagon’s proposal would represent a dramatic departure from that tradition. Experts say there is no known precedent for livestreaming a legal execution to a general public audience.

The plan has also raised questions about transparency and accountability. Some supporters of public access argue that allowing people to witness executions could expose the realities of capital punishment. Opponents counter that broadcasting a person’s death could normalise state violence, undermine human dignity and expose children to disturbing material.

The United Nations human rights office has warned that livestreaming the execution could amount to a public execution and violate the prohibition on torture and cruel, inhuman or degrading treatment. Legal specialists have also questioned whether the proposed broadcast could face court challenges.

The controversy comes amid renewed scrutiny of the American death penalty following a botched lethal-injection execution in Tennessee. It has intensified a broader debate over whether capital punishment delivers justice, deters crime or creates additional harm.

Hasan’s scheduled execution has not yet taken place, and legal challenges remain possible. Whether the livestream proceeds could shape a consequential precedent for the American justice system and determine whether a practice long abandoned returns in a new digital form.