Justice or Spectacle: The Impact Of A Public Execution On The American Conscience
The proposed public livestream of a U.S. military execution has sparked controversy over capital punishment, government authority, and religious discrimination, raising questions about where justice ends and public spectacle begins.
By BOMI WOO
A Historic Military Execution
The American government is preparing to take an unprecedented step in its modern military justice system: broadcasting an execution to the public. On October 8, 2026, Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth announced that the U.S. military intends to livestream the December 3 execution of Nidal Malik Hasan, a former U.S. Army psychiatrist convicted of killing 13 people and wounding 32 others during the Fort Hood shooting in Texas. The execution is scheduled to take place by firing squad, marking the first U.S. military firing-squad execution since 1945. Hegseth defended the decision by arguing that the public should understand the serious consequences of such crimes. However, the announcement has generated bipartisan criticism and renewed questions about the relationship between justice, state power, and the public conscience.
Bipartisan Opposition to a Public Spectacle
By making an execution accessible through a livestream, the government would transform an ordinarily restricted legal proceeding into a public event. Despite the highly politicized issue of the death penalty, this event has garnered bipartisan opposition. Representative Adam Smith, the ranking Democrat on the House Armed Services Committee, described the proposal as “disturbing” and argued that it makes a mockery of the legal system. Republican Representative Austin Scott also criticized the plan, stating, “America is better than that.” Their objections suggest that opposition to the broadcast is not confined to one political party. Additionally, the United Nations human rights office has also condemned the proposed livestream, warning that publicly broadcasting an execution raises serious human rights concerns. It raises a fundamental question: should the government use the death of a convicted individual as a public demonstration of its authority?
Justice, Punishment, and American Foreign Policy
Public displays of punishment influence citizens’ understanding of justice. While supporters may interpret the execution as a demonstration of accountability for the victims and their families, many others question whether broadcasting a person's death encourages reflection or instead turns punishment into a spectacle. The distinction is significant. A justice system can impose penalties for serious crimes without necessarily making the act of punishment a form of public entertainment. These questions become especially complicated in the context of American foreign policy. The United States remains deeply involved in Middle Eastern security, including its military confrontation with Iran and its continuing defense support for Israel. These policies shape public debate over national security, military force, and the treatment of people associated, whether fairly or unfairly, with perceived foreign threats. When the government emphasizes punishment and military strength at home while exercising military power abroad, citizens may begin to question whether its approach to justice and violence follows a consistent set of principles.
Religious Identity and the Risk of Discrimination
The issue is particularly sensitive because Hasan is Muslim. His identity and the circumstances of the Fort Hood attack have contributed to debates about terrorism, religious identity, and national security. Yet the crimes of one individual cannot reasonably establish the guilt of an entire religious community. Conflating Hasan's actions with Islam as a whole risks reinforcing prejudice against ordinary Muslim Americans, who bear no collective responsibility for his crimes.
There are already documented concerns about increasing anti-Muslim hostility in the United States. The Council on American-Islamic Relations reported receiving 8,683 civil rights complaints in 2025, its highest annual total since it began publishing these reports in 1996. The organization also identified the resurgence of narratives portraying Muslim religious beliefs as inherently threatening or un-American. These figures represent complaints received by an advocacy organization, not a count of independently verified hate crimes, but they illustrate the scale of concerns reported by Muslim communities.
In this environment, the public presentation of Hasan's execution carries implications beyond his individual case. If the broadcast is framed primarily through religious or national-security symbolism, it could encourage audiences to associate Muslim identity with violence. Conversely, a careful public discussion could distinguish individual criminal responsibility from religious discrimination and examine the ethical limits of state punishment. The impact on public conscience will depend partly on how officials, journalists, and citizens frame the event.
What Does Justice Mean for the American Conscience?
Ultimately, the controversy presents Americans with a question about what justice should represent. Accountability for the 13 people killed and the 32 wounded at Fort Hood remains central to the case. But accountability does not eliminate the need to examine how the state exercises its own power. In a period of military conflict abroad and heightened concern about anti-Muslim sentiment at home, the proposed livestream challenges the public to consider whether witnessing punishment strengthens respect for the law or normalizes the public display of state violence.
A society's conscience is shaped not only by the crimes it condemns, but also by the methods it accepts in response to them. The debate surrounding Hasan's scheduled execution therefore concerns more than one convicted individual. It concerns the values the United States communicates to its citizens and the world when it decides how justice should be carried out, and whether that justice should become a spectacle.
Sources & Further Reading
Council on American-Islamic Relations. “2026 Civil Rights Report.” Council on American-Islamic Relations, 2026.
Gedeon, Joseph. “Hegseth Says Execution of Fort Hood Shooter Will Be a Public Event.” The Guardian, October 8, 2026.
Reuters. “UN Calls US Plans to Livestream Execution ‘Abhorrent.’” Reuters, October 9, 2026.
Roemer, Leah. “Nidal Hasan May Be Executed on December 3 by Firing Squad; First Military Execution in 65 Years.” Death Penalty Information Center, October 7, 2026.
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