“They’re selling postcards of the hanging…The Circus is in town.” Desolation Row by Bob Dylan
Are executions a cause for celebration? It is an act of justice. If the crime was hard to solve, if the criminal was hard to apprehend, if the case was hard to prosecute - perhaps people have a cause to feel satisfaction. But a celebration?
Should an execution be solemn? It is an opportunity to reflect on the crime? Is it an opportunity to reflect on the victims’ life? Is it an opportunity to reflect on moral issues?
Should the executioner approach the execution with glee? Should the executioner approach the execution with respect for the obligation of carrying out this act of justice?
In the recent history of the United States, they have not been seen as celebrations. There are witnesses not celebrants. There are people there to bear witness to this solemn act of justice.
It wasn’t always that way. 100 years ago, a little less, folks would gather in the hundreds and thousands. Carnivals would come to town. They were celebrations. Souvenirs were sold. The Dylan lyric is a referenced to actual postcards that were sold of a public lynching in Duluth, Minnesota.
As the United States proposes to have a public execution of a mass murder who killed 13 people at the Fort Hood military base in 2009,