NCJ Number
161917
Journal
ABA Journal Volume: 82 Dated: (March 1996) Pages: 36-37
Date Published
1996
Length
2 pages
Annotation
This article examines issues in the debate on whether victims' families should be permitted to witness the executions of the murderers of their loved ones.
Abstract
After the turn of the century, most States made executions private, usually conducting them late at night. Spectators were limited to representatives of the media and criminal justice system and sometimes the guests of the inmate. Heightened victims' rights awareness in recent years prompted some family members of victims to ask whether they could attend executions; the requests were usually turned down. Six States, however, have changed laws or prison policies to allow viewing of executions by victims' family members: Texas, Virginia, Louisiana, California, Washington, and Illinois. A similar bill is pending in the Oklahoma legislature, introduced by a legislator whose parents were shot to death when he was 16 years old. He wants to witness the death of one of the murderers as a member of the victims' family. Pennsylvania allows family members of victims to attend as "civilian witnesses." Those who oppose such a policy caution that viewing an execution can be "traumatic" for family members. Although many family members of victims view the witnessing of the execution as therapeutic closure of a terrible event in their lives, some critics of the policy argue that closure can come in more positive ways. Richard Dieter, executive director of the Death Penalty Information Center, a nonprofit group that opposes the death penalty, argues that victims' family members should not have a legal right to view a killer's execution, since the sentence is executed on behalf of society, not to satisfy the family's urge for retribution.