I believe in justice. That doesn’t mean I want to watch someone die.

I’ve spent a good portion of my life talking about crime, punishment, justice and the consequences of evil. But on Friday’s Rush Hour, I found myself wrestling with a question that wasn’t quite as simple as some people might expect.

Should Americans be able to watch a convicted mass murderer’s execution?

The question arose from reports about plans to execute Nidal Hasan, the former Army major convicted of murdering 13 people and wounding dozens more at Fort Hood in 2009. Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth was reported to have proposed a firing squad execution that the public could watch.

Now, let me be clear about something. I have no sympathy for Hasan’s murderous actions. Thirteen people lost their lives, many others were wounded, and families have lived with the consequences of that horrific day for nearly seventeen years. The victims and their loved ones deserve to remain at the center of any discussion about justice.

But when I heard that the execution might be broadcast for the public, my first reaction surprised even me.

I wouldn’t watch it.

I don’t want to watch anybody being executed. I don’t want to see another human being put to death, even someone convicted of committing an atrocity. The very thought of watching it turns my stomach.

Does that mean I’m necessarily opposed to the death penalty? No. Does it mean I believe the government should never permit the public to witness an execution? Not necessarily, either.

That’s what makes this question difficult.

We played an exchange involving Judge Andrew Napolitano, who raised concerns about the legality and constitutionality of broadcasting an execution. He acknowledged the validity of Hasan’s conviction and sentence while questioning whether turning the execution into a public spectacle could cross a line.

I wasn’t entirely persuaded by his legal argument, but the broader question stayed with me. What exactly are we trying to accomplish by making an execution available for public viewing?

During the show, I received a message from a longtime friend who happens to be one of the most accomplished broadcasters I’ve ever known. He’s won multiple Emmy Awards and worked on some of the biggest broadcasts in the world. I’m not identifying him because he didn’t give me permission, but his opinion carried considerable weight with me.

He was emphatically opposed to broadcasting executions.

He described the impulse behind such a spectacle as “emotional mind vengeance.” He worried that it could encourage further violence, create martyrs and serve no useful purpose.

That’s a powerful argument.

But then Lady Benedict, one of our listeners, offered a very different perspective. She suggested that society has become so desensitized to violence that perhaps seeing the actual consequences of heinous crimes would remind people of the seriousness of taking a human life.

Think about that for a moment. Two people looking at the same proposed execution and reaching opposite conclusions, both expressing concern about the value of human life.

Karolos also weighed in. He recalled reports of children imitating Saddam Hussein’s hanging, with tragic consequences. His concern was that broadcasting an execution might inspire behavior nobody intended.

And I found myself somewhere in the middle, listening to these arguments and considering something that has changed within me over the years.

When I was younger, I could watch things that I simply cannot tolerate today. Violence in movies, gruesome scenes, depictions of torture and executions. As I’ve gotten older, I’ve become increasingly sensitive to those images. Even in movies I enjoy, I sometimes have to turn away.

It’s not because I’ve become less aware of evil in the world. Quite the opposite. I’ve spent decades studying history, discussing crime and watching humanity demonstrate its remarkable capacity for cruelty.

But the older I get, the more deeply I appreciate what a precious gift life really is.

I believe that life comes from our Creator. Every living being possesses something extraordinary, a spark of life that we did not manufacture and cannot truly replace. Some people call that a soul. Whatever language you use, I think the passage of time makes many of us increasingly conscious of just how precious that gift is.

And perhaps that’s why the idea of watching someone die, even as punishment for a terrible crime, troubles me so much.

I can believe that a murderer deserves the most severe punishment available under the law while also recognizing the gravity of the state taking a human life. Those two beliefs are not contradictory.

We should also remember that executions were once public events. History is filled with examples of crowds gathering to watch people hanged, beheaded or subjected to punishments so barbaric that even reading about them can be disturbing.

Did those spectacles make society more humane? Did they teach people to respect life? Or did they sometimes turn death into a form of public entertainment?

Those are questions worth asking before we decide that modern technology should bring executions directly into American living rooms.

And there is another question that belongs in this conversation.

Lady Benedict spoke about the sanctity of life, and that led me to reflect on how selectively our society sometimes applies that principle. We can become deeply concerned about the humanity of a convicted murderer while approaching the destruction of unborn life through an entirely different moral framework.

I know people disagree passionately about abortion. But if we’re going to talk seriously about the value of human life, we ought to be willing to examine the consistency of our own arguments.

None of this changes what Hasan did. Nothing diminishes the suffering of his victims or the responsibility he bears for his crimes.

But justice and spectacle are not the same thing.

I haven’t reached a final conclusion about whether an execution should ever be broadcast. I’m still listening, still thinking, and I intend to continue the conversation with listeners on Saturday.

What I do know is that I don’t need to witness a person’s final moments to understand that a terrible crime deserves serious consequences.

And I don’t believe that turning away from the sight of death means turning away from justice.

Sometimes, it means understanding just how much life is worth.

— Bo