# Televised Executions: Yes or No? **URL:** \ **Category:** In My Humble Opinion\ **Created:** [November 14, 2006, 2:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/televised-executions-yes-or-no/380382 "2006-11-14T14:45:27Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 13\ **Page:** 4
**Author:** ![Gary\_Robson](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/gary_robson/32/3448_2.png) [@Gary\_Robson](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Gary_Robson)\ **Post date:** [November 14, 2006, 8:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/televised-executions-yes-or-no/380382/61 "2006-11-14T20:48:24Z")
[QUOTE=Diogenes the Cynic] Sure, why not? Let the pro-capital punishment people get a gander at what they’re supporting. I say if you’re going to support something like that, you should have to do the dirty work out in the open. [/QUOTE] While I agree with your sentiment, I don’t think that’s how it would work in the real world. The people who really ought to be watching wouldn’t, and vice-versa. I also feel that it would encourage attention-seeking sickos to commit capital crimes. ---
**Author:** ![Der\_Trihs](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/der_trihs/32/233_2.png) [@Der\_Trihs](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Der_Trihs)\ **Post date:** [November 14, 2006, 10:54pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/televised-executions-yes-or-no/380382/62 "2006-11-14T22:54:44Z")
[QUOTE=RealityChuck] But that’s always been the argument for the death penalty: it deterred crime. Death penalty advocates made this point again and again. [/QUOTE] And they’ve always been wrong. ---
**Author:** ![danceswithcats](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/9e8a1a/32.png) [@danceswithcats](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/danceswithcats)\ **Post date:** [November 15, 2006, 3:26am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/televised-executions-yes-or-no/380382/63 "2006-11-15T03:26:35Z")
[QUOTE=Anne Neville] No. If they did televise executions, I wouldn’t watch them. [/QUOTE] I agree. Pay per view is way too expensive. Better to wait for the DVD and get a year’s worth. 🆒 ---
**Author:** ![Anne\_Neville](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/b9e5f3/32.png) [@Anne\_Neville](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Anne_Neville)\ **Post date:** [November 15, 2006, 6:26pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/televised-executions-yes-or-no/380382/64 "2006-11-15T18:26:10Z")
[QUOTE=danceswithcats] I agree. Pay per view is way too expensive. Better to wait for the DVD and get a year’s worth. 🆒 [/QUOTE] I wouldn’t watch just because I’m a wuss. If I were forced to watch, I’d keep a bucket within arm’s reach. ---
**Author:** ![Sunspace](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/sunspace/32/1250_2.png) [@Sunspace](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sunspace)\ **Post date:** [November 15, 2006, 6:33pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/televised-executions-yes-or-no/380382/65 "2006-11-15T18:33:54Z")
[QUOTE=Cervaise] OK, then, Canada. 😉 [QUOTE] Hey, we don’t have the death penalty either. If you want to do it, own up to it and be honest about it, and do it on your own territory. Don’t try to sweep it under the rug by hiding it in other jurisdictions. ---
**Author:** ![alphaboi867](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/alphaboi867/32/3898_2.png) [@alphaboi867](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/alphaboi867)\ **Post date:** [November 15, 2006, 6:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/televised-executions-yes-or-no/380382/66 "2006-11-15T18:51:30Z")
Are there any countries where televised executions are normal? Iran and Saudi Arabia do have public executions, but do they broadcast them? What about Iraq? Are Iraqi TV netorks going to air Saddam’s hanging? ---
**Author:** ![Anne\_Neville](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/b9e5f3/32.png) [@Anne\_Neville](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Anne_Neville)\ **Post date:** [November 15, 2006, 7:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/televised-executions-yes-or-no/380382/67 "2006-11-15T19:56:54Z")
> [@gonzomax](#): > > A lot of people pretend it is a clean thing. The Gas executions are supposidly humane. That is why they went to it. Many who watch are traumatized. . Maybe we all should be. I don’t want to watch people having surgery, either. I very nearly vomited during the scene in _Master and Commander_ when Maturin performed surgery on himself, and I do feel that I was traumatized by that experience. Should we outlaw surgery, then? I am upset by the sight of a hypodermic needle going into someone’s skin. That’s a common phobia- do we outlaw hypodermic needles? ---
**Author:** ![Cervaise](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/cervaise/32/16693_2.png) [@Cervaise](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Cervaise)\ **Post date:** [November 15, 2006, 11:00pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/televised-executions-yes-or-no/380382/68 "2006-11-15T23:00:53Z")
[QUOTE=Sunspace] Hey, we don’t have the death penalty either. [/QUOTE] Actually, who says death rings have to be a penalty of some kind? The gladiators could sign an extensive waiver, freely acknowledging the risk and indemnifying anyone from prosecution, and then suit up and start hacking. No crime or punishment need be involved. And I’m serious when I predict that the stands for such an event would be packed. ---
**Author:** ![Ranchoth](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ranchoth/32/1066_2.png) [@Ranchoth](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ranchoth)\ **Post date:** [November 16, 2006, 12:43pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/televised-executions-yes-or-no/380382/69 "2006-11-16T12:43:46Z")
I’ve heard arguments in favor of televising it, from BOTH sides of the debate, with the rational boiling down to one thing…horror value. The pro-death side, saying that seeing executions will scare people into not commiting crimes. And the _anti_-death people saying that seeing someone die will horrify the public into outlawing the practice. I suppose, by that logic, the anti-death people have more to gain by supporting televised executions—worst case, if it turns out their opponents were right, society still benefits from the crime deterrance. If they’re right, society turns against the death penalty. Actually, I suppose that’s not the worst case scenario. The _worst_ outcome I can imagine stems from the efforts to make American executions more humane—the fact that most(?) executions are carried out via lethal injection. From quite a few witness reports I’ve heard, these executions tend to be pretty “anticlimactic.” (You bring the prisoner in, strap him down, stick an IV in his arm, and a couple of minutes later, a doc pronounces him head. No flashing lights, sudden jolts, or wild thrashing. The prisoner just…fades away.) Now, worst case, this won’t be horrifying enough to make people want to outlaw the death penalty (“That’s _it?_ That was like when I had my _dog_ euthenized…no, that was worse, because I actually _liked_ Fido, and he didn’t murder anyone!”), or, by the same token, be scary enough to deter crime (“That’s it? If I kill somebody, IF they catch me, and _if_ I get convicted, I spend 20 years in prison on appeal, and IF that doesn’t pan out…they put me to sleep like a dog?”). End result: neither side wins. On the edges of my mind, I have some pithy comment forming…but I’m dead tired, and I can’t make it come out more good. For the record, I suppose I’m for it. ---
**Author:** ![madmonk28](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/madmonk28/32/20811_2.png) [@madmonk28](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/madmonk28)\ **Post date:** [November 16, 2006, 1:27pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/televised-executions-yes-or-no/380382/70 "2006-11-16T13:27:48Z")
[QUOTE=alphaboi867] Are there any countries where televised executions are normal? Iran and Saudi Arabia do have public executions, but do they broadcast them? What about Iraq? Are Iraqi TV netorks going to air Saddam’s hanging? [/QUOTE] They are currently discussing whether to air them or not. People in favor of airing the execution argue that people won’t believe it if they don’t see it. ---
**Author:** ![Quartz](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/quartz/32/267_2.png) [@Quartz](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Quartz)\ **Post date:** [November 16, 2006, 7:12pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/televised-executions-yes-or-no/380382/71 "2006-11-16T19:12:50Z")
[QUOTE=Der Trihs] And then we end up with Niven’s future, where _every_ crime is a capital crime, right down to running a red light, so we can steal your organs. I do _not_ want laws passed that make me more valuable disassembled than intact. [/quote] Like China, you mean? > [@](#): > > As an aside, I also oppose many property forfeiture laws and especially prison labor, for just that reason. I do not approve of legalized thievery, or state run slave facilities. Yes, yes, only the guilty have their property taken, only the guilty are forced to work; nobody has their car taken because the police chief wants it, nobody is imprisoned because the local prison needs more labor, and undercutting the wages of non-criminals has nothing to do with it. _Sure_. Well said! ---
**Author:** ![Zebra](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/z/c0e974/32.png) [@Zebra](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Zebra)\ **Post date:** [November 16, 2006, 7:23pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/televised-executions-yes-or-no/380382/72 "2006-11-16T19:23:33Z")
[QUOTE=Eve] Lethal injection? _Boring_. Now, a good guillotining–_that_ I’d watch. [/QUOTE] Guillotining? Bring back the coliseum and throw them in the lion pit. ---
**Author:** ![alphaboi867](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/alphaboi867/32/3898_2.png) [@alphaboi867](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/alphaboi867)\ **Post date:** [November 16, 2006, 7:32pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/televised-executions-yes-or-no/380382/73 "2006-11-16T19:32:48Z")
[QUOTE=madmonk28] They are currently discussing whether to air them or not. People in favor of airing the execution argue that people won’t believe it if they don’t see it. [/QUOTE] Thanks. If Iraq airs it I wonder if any US news channels will pick up the feed. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/televised-executions-yes-or-no/380382.md?page=3)