is no knowing whether seeing Mr. McVeigh's death will satisfy those who want revenge or bring closure to those who are seeking it. That is for them to understand as best they can.Mr. Ashcroft was surely right to bar televising the execution for the general public. Under most circumstances, we believe such decisions belong in the hands of the news media, not the government. In this situation, however, the very act of permitting television cameras for general public broadcast would make a cruel and unusual spectacle of the legally mandated sentence. Such broadcasts would be different in kind from those parts of the legal process — including court trials — that should be regularly televised. Mr. McVeigh has said he would like his execution to be broadcast, but it is the standards of a civilized society that should govern, not his opinion. This page opposes the death penalty for many reasons, most of which need no rehearsal here. But by publicly televising Mr. McVeigh's execution, broadcasters would be showing the very kind of act — the taking of a human life — for which Mr. McVeigh is being executed. The telecast would appeal to the basest instincts of the viewing public, and would inevitably coarsen our society.The government stopped conducting public executions in the early 20th century for much the same reason that it will use lethal injections rather than more brutal technologies to kill Timothy McVeigh — to reinforce the distinction between a lynching and a soberly considered act of duly authorized justice. The last federal execution occurred in 1963, and the Supreme Court declared the death penalty unconstitutional in 1972. But now, under a subsequently enacted death penalty statute, we are drifting backward and resuming federal executions by putting to death Mr. McVeigh. It is essential to drift backward no further by making the execution a public spectacle.As a rule, this page supports the goal of ens...
