With a California public television station filing suit seeking the right to broadcast executions, the Southeast Missourian asked people whether executions should be carried out in public as they once were, and if they should be televised.

Rick Dotson: "I favor the death penalty, but I think it should be a private thing. I don't think it should be on television for everybody to see. Keep it as it is now."

Henry Carter: "I don't want to see it on TV, and I would not want my kids to see it either. I would not want our country to go back to having it done in public."

Jay Sproat: "If it was done, I feel it would cause such a revulsion that people would want to stop executions altogether. I don't think putting it on TV would have any deterrent effect."

Denise Ballard: "I feel it should be put on TV so that people could see what could happen to them if they kill someone. They put everything else on TV, and you don't have to watch it."

Joe Wolsey: "They should not do it in public. I would not want children to be exposed to that on television. Witnesses are enough without making a show out of it."

Vicki Vernon: "To me, that's something private. I would not want to see it on TV. It might be our right to know, but you could read about it in the newspaper."