Certain states require some form of public viewing of executions. Many states require journalists to be present and the person due to be executed can also invite people. Others allow ordinary citizens to volunteer as witnesses.
But “there hasn’t ever been a livestreamed execution”, said Deborah Denno, who has studied US execution methods.
A livestreamed execution would “force a level of transparency that we have probably never seen before in this country”, the Fordham University law professor said.
“More than half of the country wants the death penalty – even though that’s on the decline – [and] an argument could be made that ‘if you want the death penalty, then we are going to show you how it’s conducted in this country’,” she said.
“And people would have to realise exactly what’s happening in a way that many people ignore.”
Denno said there were important considerations for a livestream, such as whether it would be age-restricted.
Only certain categories of people, such as journalists and relatives, are permitted to watch military executions under Army Regulation 190-55, external. People aged under 18 are excluded.
The BBC has asked the Pentagon and US Army whether the rules restricting who can watch will be waived and what safeguards will be in place to stop young people from watching the stream.
A Defence Department official told the BBC that more details on the livestreamed execution would follow.
The countries with the highest number of executions last year were China, Iran, Saudi Arabia, Yemen and the US, in that order, Amnesty International data shows.
Trump overturned his predecessor Joe Biden’s moratorium on federal executions when he returned to the White House.
Two thirds of Americans (66%) support executions of murderers, a figure which has risen six points in the last five years, according to a Pew Research survey conducted in July, external.
The last military execution in the country took place in 1961, when a US Army private was hanged after being convicted of raping an 11-year-old Austrian girl. The execution was authorised by then-President Dwight D Eisenhower and took place despite the victim’s family asking his successor, John F Kennedy, for clemency.
The last military execution by firing squad took place in January 1945, when a young US Army deserter, Eddie Slovik, was shot during the final months of WW2.
Additional reporting by Kwasi Gyamfi Asiedu and Kali Hays
