Privatizing Executions?

Arthur Miller, " Get it Right: Privatize Executions"

Believe:

If executions were to become privatized, there would be an immense turnout of people to witness the execution.  The revenue brought in from the audience buying tickets could go towards many things. The money should be split two ways, part should go back to the prison and the other part should go to the victim’s family as some attempt at reparation.  It is very expensive to house criminals in jail for long periods of time while they are either on trial or waiting for “their day.”  I know money is not the way to fix everything, and can most definitely not fix the loss of a loved one.  But, some compensation for their loss can and will help the family, and if they choose they do not want to money the family can choose what the money goes towards.  Also, with the privatization there will be a message sent out to many people.  People being able to witness the punishment being upheld will show that you most likely will not get away with a crime you commit and you will have to face the consequences of your actions. 

Doubt:

            I do not believe the public execution of criminals is a necessity.  The possible “benefits” of doing so do not out weigh the consequences.  Often, when a murder suspect is put on trial their lives are made public.  Their name gets put into newspapers, their picture is shown on the five o’clock news, and if they are found guilty of their crime it is made well known.  Yes, it is nice to know that our law enforcement is doing their job and catching the criminals, but I believe this is enough humiliation for one person.  Then we deal with, it is not only humility of one person but also of their family.  From now on, their name will be associated with the crime a family member committed.  Why then must we go further as to let everyone watch him or her die?   It is not going to be a great feeling for a family member to walk down the street and overhear people talking about tickets to an execution they just bought and they know its going to be the one of their family members.   Or, imagine walking into a store or room and having people turn to who ever they are with and start talking about you.  The first assumption the family member is going to make is that these people saw the execution of your relative and now everywhere you go people are going to remember the execution, because they relate it to you, and talk about it.  Now, the family no matter how hard they are trying to forget about it is always going to have a constant reminder of what happened.

Also, in no way could children witnessing an execution teach them a lesson.  If you were to take a child to a public execution and they ask, “What is going on mommy,” the likely response of the mother is going to be something along the lines of he was a bad person and now he is getting punished.  This is okay until you are trying to teach your children right from wrong and you tell them something as simple as lying or stealing is what bad people do.  Then, with how wild young children’s minds run, they are going to think if they steal or lie what they saw at the execution is going to happen to them.  So, when they accidently tell a lie they could overreact completely and get really scared which could lead to worse problems.