A public execution is a form of capital punishment which "members of the general public may voluntarily attend."[1] This definition excludes the presence of only a small number of witnesses called upon to assure executive accountability.[2] The purpose of such displays has historically been to deter individuals from defying laws or authorities. Attendance at such events was historically encouraged and sometimes even mandatory.
Most countries have abolished the death penalty entirely, either in law or in practice.[3] While today most countries regard public executions with distaste, they have been practiced at some point in history nearly everywhere.[4] At many points in the past, public executions were preferred to executions behind closed doors because of their capacity for deterrence.[5] However, the actual efficacy of this form of terror is disputed.[6] They also allowed the convicted the opportunity to make a final speech, gave the state the chance to display its power in front of those who fell under its jurisdiction, and granted the public what was considered to be a great spectacle.[7] Public executions also permitted the state to project its superiority over political opponents.[7][5] People were publicly executed so that the public could see the consequences of committing a crime.
- ^ Hood, Roger. "Capital punishment". Encyclopedia Britannica. Encyclopedia Britannica, Inc. Retrieved 3 October 2018.
- ^ Blum, Steven A. (Winter 1992). "Public Executions: Understand the "Cruel and Unusual Punishments" Clause" (PDF). Hastings Constitutional Law Quarterly. 19 (2): 415. Archived from the original (PDF) on 2014-03-26.
- ^ Tonry, Michael H. (2000). The Handbook of Crime & Punishment. Oxford University Press. ISBN 978-0-19-514060-6.
- ^ Ward, Richard (2015), Ward, Richard (ed.), "Introduction: A Global History of Execution and the Criminal Corpse", A Global History of Execution and the Criminal Corpse, Wellcome Trust–Funded Monographs and Book Chapters, Basingstoke (UK): Palgrave Macmillan, ISBN 978-1-137-44401-1, PMID 27559562, retrieved 2022-09-19
- ^ a b Garland, David. Meranze, Michael. McGowen, Randall (2011). America's death penalty : between past and present. New York University Press. ISBN 978-0-8147-3266-3. OCLC 630468201.
{{cite book}}: CS1 maint: multiple names: authors list (link) - ^ McKenzie, Andrea Katherine (2007). Tyburn's martyrs : execution in England, 1675-1775. Hambledon Continuum. ISBN 978-1-84725-171-8. OCLC 255621799.
- ^ a b Cawthorne, Nigel (2006). Public Executions: From Ancient Rome to the Present Day. Chartwell Books. pp. 6–7. ISBN 978-0-7858-2119-9.