n a small group of nations carrying out public executions. Afghanistan and Iran as the only two nations that conducted known public executions last year, according to Amnesty International.

It appears the last public execution in the U.S. took place in 1936. An estimated 20,000 people gathered to watch the hanging of Rainey Bethea, a Black man who confessed to the rape and murder of a 70-year-old White woman, according to the Death Penalty Information Center.

The last military execution took place in 1961, when U.S. Army Private John Bennett was hanged. Hasan's death by firing squad would be the military's first using that method since 1945, according to the Death Penalty Information Center.