History is messy. Really messy. Today, the mere suggestion that children should watch public executions sounds like a fast track to a CPS investigation or a lifelong therapy bill. It feels barbaric. It feels wrong. But if you look back at the timeline of human civilization—and I mean really look at it—you’ll find that for most of our history, kids weren't just allowed at executions; they were often front and center.
Why? Because society used to view "the end" differently.
Before we sanitized death and tucked it away behind sterile hospital curtains or prison walls, it was a communal event. It was a lesson. It was a warning. When we talk about whether children should watch public executions, we aren't just talking about violence. We’re talking about how different eras defined "morality" and "parenting."
The Historical Reality of the "Family Outing"
Let’s be real: public executions were the festivals of their time. In 18th-century London, hanging days at Tyburn were basically public holidays. People took off work. They packed lunches. Vendors sold gingerbread and "dying speeches." And yes, parents brought their kids.
It wasn't because parents back then were monsters. They lived in a world where death was everywhere. High infant mortality, public disease, and the constant threat of famine made the end of life a very visible reality. They didn't see the harm in a child witnessing a criminal’s end because they believed it served a pedagogical purpose. They wanted their children to see, in vivid and terrifying detail, what happened when you broke the law.
In the United States, this stayed a thing much longer than people realize. Take the case of Rainey Bethea in 1936. He was the last person publicly executed in the U.S., in Owensboro, Kentucky. An estimated 20,000 people showed up. There are photos. You can see families in their Sunday best. You can see children. To those parents, this was a civic duty. They believed that by seeing the consequence of a heinous crime, a child would be "scared straight."
The "Moral Lesson" vs. The Psychological Trauma
The core argument for why people once thought children should watch public executions was rooted in the "deterrence" theory. The idea was simple: if a kid sees a man swing from a rope, that kid is never going to steal a loaf of bread or commit a murder. It was a visceral, unforgettable moral education.
Modern psychology, of course, has a few things to say about that.
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Studies on childhood trauma and witness to violence—like those conducted by the American Psychological Association—show that exposure to extreme violence doesn't usually create "orderly citizens." It creates PTSD. It creates desensitization. It creates a cycle where violence is normalized as a tool of the state. There’s a massive gap between "learning right from wrong" and "watching a human being die in agony."
The Shift to "The Hidden Death"
So, what changed? Why did we go from "bring the whole family" to "this is a restricted state secret"?
By the mid-19th century, the vibe started to shift. Thinkers like Charles Dickens were actually instrumental in this change. Dickens attended the hanging of the Mannings in 1849 and was absolutely horrified—not just by the execution, but by the behavior of the crowd. He saw people laughing, drinking, and mocking the dying. He realized that instead of being a solemn moral lesson, public executions had become a "ghastly carnival."
He wrote to The Times, arguing that these spectacles didn't make people better; they made them more brutal. This is a key point in the debate. If the goal of having children watch public executions was to instill a sense of justice, it was failing. It was actually just teaching them to enjoy cruelty.
What Modern Experts Say About Exposure
If you ask a child development expert today, like those at the Child Mind Institute, they’ll tell you that a child’s brain isn't equipped to process state-sanctioned killing. Kids are literal. They see the violence, but they don't necessarily grasp the complex legal framework behind it.
- Emotional Dysregulation: The sight of death can trigger a fight-or-flight response that stays stuck in the "on" position.
- The Empathy Gap: When a society tells a child that it’s "good" or "just" to watch someone suffer, it can stunt the development of natural empathy.
- Cognitive Dissonance: It creates a confusing world where "killing is bad," but "killing this guy is a party."
Honestly, it’s a lot for a ten-year-old to handle.
Does Digital Violence Replace the Scaffold?
Here is where the conversation gets a bit uncomfortable for modern parents. We act shocked at the idea that children should watch public executions, yet many kids today are exposed to "digital executions" regularly.
Think about it.
Between unrestricted access to social media—where raw footage of war zones or police shootings can pop up in a feed—and hyper-realistic video games, death is back in the living room. It’s just on a screen now. Some argue that this "sanitized" digital violence is actually worse because it lacks the weight of reality. There’s no smell of the crowd, no true gravity of the moment—just a clip that can be swiped away.
Is a kid watching a snuff film on a leaked Telegram channel really that different from a kid standing at the foot of a guillotine in 1793? Some might argue the kid in 1793 had it better because at least the community was there to frame the event, however twisted that frame might have been.
The Argument for "Tough Reality"
There is a very small, very fringe minority of people who still believe in the "exposure" method. Their logic isn't usually about the death penalty specifically, but about ending the "coddling" of children. They argue that by hiding death, we make children fragile.
But there’s a huge difference between seeing a dead bird in the woods or attending a funeral and witnessing a violent, state-mandated killing. Most sociologists agree that the latter serves no positive function in a modern, democratic society. It’s not about "sheltering" kids from life; it’s about protecting them from state-sponsored trauma.
Where Do We Go From Here?
The debate over whether children should watch public executions is mostly a ghost of the past, but it teaches us a lot about our present. We’ve moved death behind closed doors. We’ve turned it into a legal process rather than a public spectacle.
If you're looking for actionable ways to handle the "reality of justice" with children without resorting to 18th-century tactics, consider these steps:
- Age-Appropriate Honesty: Instead of showing violence, talk about the consequences of actions. You don't need a rope to explain that society has rules.
- Contextualize History: When kids learn about the French Revolution or the Wild West, don't skip the "public execution" part. Explain why people went. Explain that they thought it was a deterrent, and then explain why we realized it wasn't.
- Media Literacy: Since kids will likely see "digital executions" or violence online, be the filter. Talk through what they see. Ask how it makes them feel. Don't let the internet be their only teacher on the value of human life.
- Focus on Restorative Justice: Move the conversation away from "punishment as a show" and toward how society repairs harm. It’s a much more complex, but much healthier, lesson for a developing brain.
Ultimately, the reason we don't let kids watch executions anymore isn't just because we’re "softer" than our ancestors. It’s because we’ve learned more about the human mind. We’ve learned that fear isn't the same thing as morality. And we’ve learned that a child’s sense of justice is better built on empathy than on the shadow of the gallows.
Next Steps for Understanding State Justice:
To understand how the death penalty is handled today—and how it impacts families and communities—research the work of the Innocence Project or the Death Penalty Information Center. These organizations provide data on the modern legal process, moving the focus from the "spectacle" to the actual pursuit of truth and the complexities of the law. You can also look into museum exhibits on carceral history to see how the public’s relationship with punishment has evolved over the last 200 years.