Monash expert: Calls to block US execution live stream in AustraliaMonash University
The Albanese government has urged digital platforms to apply strong editorial control to the Trump administration’s proposed live stream of a public execution, while the Greens have called for the broadcast to be blocked. Following World Day Against the Death Penalty, a Monash University expert is available to discuss the ethics and laws around public executions.
Sara Kowal, Director, Eleos Justice, Monash Law
Contact: +61 433 126 926 or sara.kowal@monash.edu
Read more of Senior Lecturer Kowal’s analysis and opinion
“The Albanese government is right to urge platforms to exercise restraint. The scheduled live stream is unlikely to happen, because Hasan can still challenge his sentence in the federal courts. This suggests to me that the US government’s announcement is political theatre designed to provoke fear.
“There is a view that if governments truly believed executions deterred crime, they would not hide them. But the evidence has never supported the claim that executions deter. In 2012, the US National Research Council reviewed more than three decades of research and found it too weak to inform policy. The case is weaker still for ideologically driven violence like Hasan’s.
“Broadcasting executions traumatises viewers and normalises state killing. Public executions are carried out in Iran, Afghanistan and North Korea. The United States should not be borrowing from that playbook.”
