Last Thursday 250 victims of Timothy McVeigh's bomb--some who survived the blast, others who lost loved ones to it--were granted their request to witness his execution on closed-circuit television. In announcing this departure from normal procedure, Attorney General John Ashcroft spoke of the need "to close this chapter in their lives" and emphasized "the magnitude of this case." (There are too many mourners, given the 168 killed, to fit into the prison observation room.)
Ashcroft is right to grant the survivors anything they think will help them through the night. But there's a question whether this execution will be a last...