Journalist Urges Public Not to Watch Live Stream of Nidal Hasan Execution
Peter Hitchens, who has witnessed two executions, warns of the psychological toll and historical precedent of public death spectacles.
Journalist Peter Hitchens has strongly advised against watching the planned live stream of the execution of former U.S. Army Major Nidal Hasan, who killed 13 people and wounded 32 others in the 2009 Fort Hood shooting.
Hitchens, who has personally witnessed two executions, described the experience as profoundly altering, stating, "Watching an execution will change you. You will be older, and you will be guilty."
Historical Context of Public Executions
Referencing historical precedents, Hitchens noted that public executions, while once a practice in Britain, France, and the U.S., were eventually abolished due to their disturbing nature. He cited the 1849 hanging of two men in Southwark, London, which Charles Dickens attended and condemned not for the death penalty itself, but for the "wickedness and levity" of the crowd. Dickens wrote of the crowd exhibiting "brutal mirth or callousness" and a lack of emotion or pity for the condemned.
Similarly, the last public execution in the U.S. in Owensboro, Kentucky, in 1936, involved a crowd of 20,000 people who consumed food and drinks while a man was hanged. This event, which took place during an era of significant racial bias, embarrassed the state and led to the end of such public spectacles.
Hitchens also recalled his own experiences witnessing executions: a lethal injection in Texas in 1994 of Larry Anderson, who had committed a brutal murder, and an electrocution in Georgia in 1995 of Nicholas Lee Ingram for the murder of a couple. While he maintained his support for capital punishment in principle for heinous crimes, he found the sterile, medicalized atmosphere of the lethal injection unsettling and the electrocution violently impactful.
He expressed concern that the planned live stream of Hasan's execution, accessible to millions in their homes, mirrors the problematic aspects of past public executions. "Millions watching on wide screens in their homes are no better than crowds milling around that Southwark scaffold," Hitchens wrote. He warned that such public spectacles can stir emotions that are unhealthy and lead to a societal decline.
Hitchens concluded by urging the public not to watch the broadcast, expressing a hope that U.S. Secretary of War Pete Hegseth and President Trump would reconsider the decision to make the execution publicly viewable online. He believes that such events, once initiated, can create a dangerous appetite for more, leading to a "downward step" for society.
