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Taliban execute two men by gunfire in packed Afghanistan stadium
(www.independent.co.uk)
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this post was submitted on 24 Feb 2024
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The brutalizing effect is the opposite: by seeing this kind of violence, people are more likely to normalize it and engage in violence themselves. That's the hypothesis, anyway.
Huh? After seeing this people will want to kill people? I am talking extra-judicial killing here
Suppose the theory would be that a spectator doesn't picture himself in the shoes of the executed. Instead they get used to the idea that killing someone isn't so crazy, if they think they deserve it.
I could believe this, particularly if it's on some subconscious level. The rational mind might say "that could be me, I better be careful", but getting desensitized might get rid of some fundamental revulsion. I'd also think the people at risk of committing murder are not likely to trend toward rational thinking, at least not in the moment of the crime.
I'm sorry to say that you may be seeing it the wrong way.
The experts tend to agree with the previous commenter.
Here's one study that discusses potential avenues for this.
https://www.sciencedirect.com/topics/medicine-and-dentistry/exposure-to-violence
Public execution seems hardly necessary for people to know the consequences, even if you think the death penalty is required. They know it anyway.
From another perspective, assuming attending a mass execution is not compulsory, what audience will choose to watch? People looking to receive a better understanding of what would await them if they comittied crime, or people excited to see violent death or vengeance? No one is voluntarily choosing to watch an execution while thinking "that could be me", they are thinking "yeah, I'm here to see that evil dude get what he deserves", in the most "favorable" scenario, some people are there just for pure bloodlust. Either way if these people find themselves in a serious chance to commit murder, it's guaranteed that either they just revel in the violent death and don't care about the morality, or they think their victim deserves it (can be as weak as the killer thinks he deserves a relationship, and the victim didn't want one).
If we look at the data, per your belief we should see the handful of public execution countries enjoying a very low murder rate. They actually do not. In fact most countries without a death penalty at all consistently have lower murder rates than the countries with public executions.
It's an interesting take to say if you can't have public executions, you might as well not have any punishment at all.
When it comes to the visceral nature of violent behavior, a would-be murderer is not applying the nuance of "there was a judge involved in all those violent executions I saw in person, but not here", the visceral emotion is "this dude deserves the same death I've personally seen metted out and I'm not repulsed by the concept since it's jsut so normal".
The rational mind, to the extent it is keeping a lid on murderous ambition, is already kept in check by the abstract knowledge of punishment. Seeing it first hand I think does nothing further for the rational mind. In fact, many nations without a death penalty at all enjoy some of the lowest murder rates, so long as everyone believes there is an effective justice system and they will be caught and receive a significant punishment. The less rational mind may succumb to the erosion of directly witnessed violent death. Hell, some might even actually yearn for a moment when a stadium of people is looking at him. There's also something to be said for keeping the names of killers out of the news cycle, as that also seems to be a trigger for killers.
Think of how many abused people grow up both hating the abuse they had growing up but also inflicting it in turn. Our minds aren't wired for the highest rational consideration of nuance and circumstance when it comes to violence.