What a Livestream Would Ask Us to Accept

A judicial execution and a lynching have different legal foundations. The historical connection lies in the use of public death to display power, define an enemy, and enlist an audience.

Hasan’s Muslim identity adds another question of racial justice: whether the government’s presentation of his execution will encourage hostility toward Muslims as a group. Turning Hasan’s execution into a public spectacle creates a danger that viewers will treat his death as a victory over Muslims. His criminal responsibility is individual. Muslims bear no collective responsibility for his crimes.

Pike’s case exposes the violence of execution. The racial history of capital punishment remains relevant even when a particular case does not establish racial discrimination.

A livestream expands the audience far beyond an execution chamber. Viewers could replay, circulate, celebrate, or weaponize the images. Government would be responsible for creating that public spectacle, even if it could not control every subsequent use.

We should reject the idea that the public needs to watch a person die to understand the seriousness of murder.