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Ritini Mahuru
Ms.Oberg
2B
9/29/13
Death Penalty Issues
Should executions be made in public? Why did the U.S. allow public execution? The last
public execution happened in 1936, in Owensboro, Kentucky, where they hung a black man,
accused for raping his white employer. That was the last execution to have happen, later it was
than prohibited in 1937, in the states. And today, only small groups of witnesses will be allowed
to attend the execution. Such as, relatives of both the victim and prisoner, prison warden, and
spiritual advisors.
After looking and researching the Pros and Con's reasonings about this article, I would
consider leaving public executions prohibited. I do find some Pro's reasonings good and having
really good topics, but my opinion about their reasons were for their benefit of using such an
inhumane technique to show the world their own meaning of good. And the Cons reasoning had
very well explained that as human beings, it isnt right to allow public executions with an inmate,
who is also human.
Timothy McVeigh from Sunday Oklahaman Letter, "... hold a true public execution -allow a public broadcast... It has been said that all of Oklahoma was a victim of the bombing.
Can all of Oklahoma watch?" McVeigh stated that because of the event that happened with the

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terrorist who bombed a building in Oklahoma, stated that every single person in Oklahoma
became a victim of the bombing, therefore, they should be allowed to watch a public
execution.
Another Pro, Louis P. Pojman, likes the idea of public execution to "... serve as a
reminder that crime does not pay. Public executions of criminals seem an efficient way to
communicate the message..." If a public execution happens, people will let criminals know that
this will be the outcome. So that crimes would decrease.
The Pro's seem to have a similar reasoning. They seem to only go against prohibiting
public execution's because they stated that this is what the criminal deserves, for there peoples
sake. In my opinion, I wouldn't find this a really good reason for public executions. Not all of
Oklahoma were victims of the bombing of a building, and how will people get to inform the
criminals about the message that they're trying to send them? How do they know if the criminals
are even watching it? People who considered prohibiting public executions had listed really good
reasons to why we shouldnt have public executions, and their reasonings are much stronger
than those of Pros.
A very good reasoning I found in a Con's, was Raymond A. Schroth, who replied to
Timothy McVeigh's request said, "... To take satisfaction from watching another human being
die, even one who is an enemy, is to diminish, pervert, our own humanity. And it no more purges
our grief than a raging scream drains off our anger." Schroth is on the point that Pro's are
agreeing to doing something that is so inhumane, just for their own satisfaction.
Another really good reason I found was, Wendy Lesser, who wrote, "... The danger of a
TV execution possible that instead of making the killing more real to us, the sight of a

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condemned person dying in TV might only acclimate us further to such violent images." She
stated that how would the people, the audience, be affected, once they see it live on television?
Would watching a person die on television make more people become more violent?

I do agree that public executions should be kept prohibited. I think that is all there is to it,
there's no other reason that should be reasoned to bring back a public execution again. The Pro's
had fair reasonings, but they didn't really rely onto why the inmate should be deserved to be
publicly executed, they focused more about the audience, to show the world that it would be
good if only they sawed the death of the enemy. The Con's however, had very good reasonings.
They involved not only the awareness of their audience's reaction about the execution, but also
they reasoned that doing such a disgusting activity, on one person's life, it will make them lose
their humanity.

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Works Cited
Should Executions be made Public?. 1/19/2009 7:17:00 AM PST
<procon.org>
Timothy McVeigh, Feb. 11, 2001 letter submitted to the Sunday Oklahoman
http://deathpenalty.procon.org/view.answers.php?questionID=000995
Louis P. Pojman, PhD, 2004, Debating the Death Penalty: Should America Have Capital Punishment?
The Experts on Both Sides Make Their Best Case
http://deathpenalty.procon.org/view.answers.php?questionID=000995
Raymond A. Schroth, SJ, Apr. 27, 2001 National Catholic Reporter article titled "Execution Live Timothy McVeigh - Brief Article,"
http://deathpenalty.procon.org/view.answers.php?questionID=000995
Wendy Lesser, 1993 book titled Pictures at an Execution: An Inquiry into the Subject of Murder
http://deathpenalty.procon.org/view.answers.php?questionID=000995