Ark. Journalists Demand Open Executions

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ACLU, Journalists File Lawsuit to Make Entire Executions Open

Ark. Journalists Demand Open Executions - Forbes.com

"Witnesses should be allowed to see the entire process, including strapping the condemned down and the insertion of needles," reads the lawsuit, filed in federal court in Pine Bluff. "The public has a First Amendment right to view executions from the moment the condemned is escorted into the execution chamber."

As brutal, cruel, savage, immoral, and abhorrent as the death penalty is, if a country has the death penalty should it not be made available for all to see? And, by "available for all to see", I mean prime time television when the whole family including children can watch.

Regards
S.

[Chaossaber314]

Awaiting a real argument as to why this is a violation of first amendment rights...

[The Decider]

Quote by: sdbest As brutal, cruel, savage, immoral, and abhorrent as the death penalty is, if a country has the death penalty should it not be made available for all to see? And, by "available for all to see", I mean prime time television when the whole family including children can watch.

No. The general public doesn't have the "right" to watch prisoners endure life sentences in solitary confinement. Where is the "right" to watch prisoners die on television?

Either ban the death penalty or keep it. Trying to televise executions in an effort to shame or disgust Americans into banning them is a losing strategy IMO.

Quote by: The Decider No. The general public doesn't have the "right" to watch prisoners endure life sentences in solitary confinement. Where is the "right" to watch prisoners die on television? Either ban the death penalty or keep it. Trying to televise executions in an effort to shame or disgust Americans into banning them is a losing strategy IMO.

It's too bad that the general public doesn't have the right to see what the state is doing in their name.

Regards
S.

[Chaossaber314]

Indeed. The use of capital punishment in the United States is a complete unknown to the general public. Erm... oh wait.

[The Decider]

Quote by: sdbest It's too bad that the general public doesn't have the right to see what the state is doing in their name.

You may have a point. Look what public executions have done for Saudi Arabia. Now there's a model for the transparent state!

[Nono]

Quote by: sdbest It's too bad that the general public doesn't have the right to see what the state is doing in their name.

For them it'd just be a revved up version of reality TV -- maybe not as gripping as gladitorial combat, but definitely worth flipping the channel to.

The US -- like Iran and China -- is in thrall to Old Testament two-dimensional notions of eye-for-eye "justice". Jes keep it reeel simple.

And as long as the executees are largely black -- and some whites who somehow didn't get the right kind of legal counsel -- most people will know it's never going to happen to them.