{
  "id": 13019799,
  "title": "Public executions in the US were once a community spectacle and then they stopped",
  "url": "https://urgent.news/2026/10/09/public-executions-in-the-us-were-once-a-community-spectacle-and-then",
  "topic": "world",
  "section": "World",
  "published": "2026-10-09T03:40:56.000Z",
  "source": {
    "name": "Winnipeg Free Press",
    "slug": "winnipeg-free-press",
    "url": "https://www.winnipegfreepress.com/world/2026/10/08/public-executions-in-the-us-were-once-a-community-spectacle-and-then-they-stopped"
  },
  "original_language": "en",
  "account": "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.",
  "summary": null,
  "key_points": [
    "Public executions once common in US, now private",
    "Pentagon's livestreamed execution marks shift",
    "Last public execution in 1936 in Kentucky"
  ],
  "editors_take": null,
  "illustration": null,
  "coverage": {
    "outlets": 1,
    "also_reported_by": []
  },
  "ai_generated": true,
  "disclaimer": "Summaries, key points and the editor’s take are written by software from other outlets’ reporting and may contain errors — always check the linked original."
}