If there were a public execution on television, would you watch it?

Hasn't there been at least one already? Saddam Hussein.

Probably not. I'm pretty squeamish. In fact I don't think I'd even be happy about it being shown.

I thought the way they dealt with Saddam was digusting actually. Whether he deserved to be put to death is not in question; of course he did - but publicly? That was in really bad taste. The way people were jeering at him as he climbed the scaffold was abhorrent & goes to show how primitive human beings are. It felt like we'd gone back in time to the days of the Halifax jibbet or the guillotine; haven't we evolved?
You can apparently measure a country by the way it treats it's animals, elderly and prisoners - at the moment the world is not measuring up & i really don't think televising executions will help us as a race - we see enough violence as it is; check out the news if you want to see bloodshed and terror.
Sadly, i think a lot of people would watch, either out of curiosity (which incidentally killed the cat), or for sick amusement, or even in the same way as when you see a car crash - you don't want to look, but you have to; but i think this is the same as curiosity & those who are curious would only need to see it once, so on show#2, your only viewers would be the ones who have a taste for the sick.
So no, i wouldn't watch - and those who would watch, i imagine would wish they hadn't.

Hell, NO!

If the person being executed did something to someone I love, then probably yes.

I would not. No question to it. I don't even like watching those shows that play video clips of people crashing the high speed boats or bikes, or getting hurt some other way.

I admit that I would. Curiosity would get the better of me.

I wouldn't. It's not that I want to pretend it's not happening, it's just that I would hope as a society we've grown up past the whole Christians in the Lion den, or public hangings as a form of entertainment. I know as a society we haven't (and there's a big risk for us to revert back to that very soon), but if I don't watch it, then at least I can pretend we have.

Why, we all should watch them, of course. And they all should be televised. If we're going to take a step as drastic as condemning someone to death....should we not at least bear witness to our handiwork? Maybe then we'd think twice about sentencing anyone to death in the first place.

If they did something to someone I love yes.

NO. I don't believe in war as a way to solve anything. And execution is no solution either. But I think GWBush deserves it for his warcrimes against humanity and lying to America.

absolutely NO! I think that is horrible, and a child could easily view it.

I think I would. I also think it should happen more often. I know alot of you are going to get me about this. Before you get mad and start typing, let me say this. Answer this honestly to yourself. If someone broke into your home and killed your family for a couple of hundred dollars worth of stuff that they stole from you. Later they were caught tried and sentenced to death by a jury. Would you disagree with the punishment. People say we should be more civilized than that. What was civilized about some murdering some one else. What is civilized about getting a 10 year old started on drugs. What is civilized about breaking your back to try and make a living for your family and some one come in and take that away over a couple of hundred dollars. I think the laws in this country are to easy. I think the punishedments DO NOT FIT THE CRIME

if i was flipping the channel and came across it then i think i might ... it would be like a car accident.. i dont think i would do it on a regular basis . but if it was on paper view and people were making a profit off it prob not.... but if i really really think of it then i would only watch if they had done something to wrong me or a family member... like i have always wondered what it would be like to watch someone in jail get injected or electric chair... if that were the case then yeah and i dont think i would feel sorry for them either
wow im kinda morbid

NO!!!!!!!!!

Yes! I would probably be dissapointed by how it was done though. But I agree that if we are going to sentence people to death, everyone should have to see it, make them see just what it was they wanted.

We've watched so many of them on television. Old war movies, actual war footage as far back as the Vietnam conflict, Sadaam H.'s hanging, and well executed mob and gang "hits" on dramas. Many of us are already numbed to the experience.

Would I seek to watch one? I don't know. Depends on the subject.

Depending on what the person has done!
IIf for example it was found beyond all doubt that a person killed 7 people and put their bodies in a barrel..

YES!...I would watch it to make sure he was dead!!

I sincerely doubt I will. I don't like watching t.v. too much anyways.

No... but then again I don't believe in the death penalty. Torture, rape and kill and frankly I want to see you suffer a little. Lethal injection is a touch too kind thanks.