Indiana shrouds executions in secrecy, defying long tradition of public oversight

Associated Press

Executions have historically been carried out with at least some public scrutiny, from public hangings in the town square to lethal injections in prisons witnessed by journalists. That was not the case early Wednesday morning in Indiana, when state prison officials announced they had put Joseph Corcoran to death without any independent witnesses permitted. The unusual secrecy is a result of state laws shielding information about the death penalty. Some First Amendment advocates and death penalty experts say the lack of transparency during the gravest of government punishments is alarming. They say media witnesses play a crucial role by providing the public with firsthand and factual accounts of executions.