Public executions in the US were once a community spectacle and then they stopped

For nearly a century, executions in the United States were held privately and kept hidden from the public eye. However, the Pentagon's recent announcement of a livestreamed military execution marks a shift towards a more transparent approach. This could be the first public execution in over six decades, following two hangings in the 1930s that drew large crowds.

In 1936, a man accused of rape and murder was hanged in front of thousands in Kentucky, while the following year, hundreds witnessed a hanging in Missouri. These public executions were often seen as a deterrent to crime and were attended by families and teachers who believed the event would teach a lesson. In an execution in Leadville, Colorado, in the late 1800s, the condemned man apologized to the crowd before his death, and the crowd responded with a similar farewell.

Michael L. Radelet, a professor at the University of Colorado Boulder, noted that public executions were a spectacle, especially in rural areas where other forms of entertainment were limited. The 1936 hanging in Kentucky of Rainey Bethea is considered the last public execution in the country, involving a Black man accused of raping and killing a white woman.

Despite the public outcry over botched hangings and concerns over the sanctity of the event, states began to move away from public executions as a deterrent and towards more private, solemn procedures.