Public punishment has always been more than a legal practice. It is a form of display. A way to show the rules and the consequences of breaking them. A ritual meant not just to correct the individual but to reaffirm the power of the collective. Throughout history the body of the criminal has served as a billboard raised to communicate fear order and control.
Execution in public was not simply about ending a life. It was about making the act visible. It needed a crowd. The condemned was presented to the people not only to be punished but to be watched ridiculed judged again. Bodies were not only killed. They were staged.
The spectacle of punishment was carefully designed. The condemned walked through the crowd. They were accompanied by music. Sometimes they were tied to a post where the public threw garbage rotten fruit and animal entrails. The louder the crowd the more effective the punishment. The executioner's whip was guided by the rhythm of shouting.
In this context punishment functioned as marketing. The state promoted its message. Obey or face the consequences. This was not a hidden message. It was written across the broken body of the criminal. On stage. In daylight. At the city gate. On the busiest roads. Where everyone could see and remember.
The method of killing was part of the message. Hanging was not immediate. The victim was suspended then strangled slowly. Sometimes disemboweled. Sometimes quartered. Sometimes burned. These methods were not chosen randomly. They were designed to amplify fear. Designed to speak.
In eighteenth century England bodies remained on display for weeks. They were chained to posts. Covered in tar to slow decay. Left to rot in public view. Sometimes a signboard was added explaining the crime. The execution site became a classroom. The audience was everyone.
Punishment was a tool of state communication. It was also a theater. A carnival of judgment. The audience shouted. The condemned confessed or resisted. The whole event worked as an emotional trigger. Shame. Pity. Fear. Satisfaction. These feelings were not accidental. They were necessary. They were part of the effect.
This performance was not only a matter of justice. It was a demonstration of power. Power needed to be seen. It needed to be believed. Public punishment made it visible. It created a shared experience between ruler and ruled. A moment of alignment. A moment of collective agreement real or forced.
Even after executions moved into prisons the logic of display continued. Punishment became private but visibility found new forms. Media reports. Courtroom dramas. Televised trials. Detailed coverage. State narratives. The public was still there now watching through screens.
Today public punishment may be rare. But its function remains. Spectacle has shifted. It lives in news coverage. In the viral image. In the curated post. Executions are rare on the street. But they happen in narrative. In representation. In the symbolic. Power still performs and the audience still watches.
Political systems need legitimacy. They seek it in shared rituals. Punishment is one of them. It affirms the law. It affirms the state. When people see a criminal punished they are reminded of the line not to cross and who draws that line.
The aim is not only correction. It is deterrence. And more than that it is affirmation. The public must know. The state must show. Even silence can be a form of consent. When the crowd watches and does not resist it legitimizes the violence. Passively but effectively.
Public punishment is not only about law. It is about the body. The image of the body. Its transformation into a sign. A symbol. Something to be consumed. To be feared. To be remembered.
Throughout history this process was often theatrical. Executions were rehearsed. Scripted. Decorated. They were events. The criminal became a performer. The executioner a conductor. The people an audience. The message order must be preserved.
Social media has added speed to this logic. Images circulate fast. Anger is generated quickly. Punishment becomes immediate and sometimes irreversible. The machinery of spectacle is no longer limited to the street. It is global. It is digital. It is continuous.
Political marketing through punishment works best when emotion is high. Fear. Hatred. Disgust. Rage. These feelings blur judgment. They build support. They help maintain order through identification with the punisher.
Even criticism of punishment can feed the spectacle. Attention remains fixed on the scene. On the performance. On the figure of the criminal. Whether in support or opposition the image spreads. The spectacle lives.
What remains central is the body. Its exposure. Its pain. Its transformation into meaning. Punishment as marketing is not just a display of violence. It is a message. Carefully crafted. Strategically delivered. Directed at the people. Made to be remembered.
For the full text refer to the book “Entertainment in Public” Project.
