I know the dark secrets of America's executions. Broadcasting Fort Hood killer Nidal Hasan's firing squad could unleash terrifying consequences for America

Few people know more about America's death penalty than Corinna Barrett Lain.An Army veteran, former prosecutor and the current George E Allen Chair in Law at the University of Richmond School of Law, she has spent decades studying capital punishment and is considered one of the leading experts in the field.So when she learned of the plan to live-stream the firing squad execution of Fort Hood killer Nidal Hasan, Lain instantly feared it could have chilling consequences for America. 'We’re talking about essentially creating a snuff tape with the government being the killer,' Lain, author of Secrets of the Killing State: The Untold Story of Lethal Injection, told the Daily Mail.'My sense is that our leaders have not quite thought this through, and have not considered that this is truly a gift to jihadists worldwide. 'We could be paying for this decision for decades.'Hasan, an Army psychiatrist, murdered 13 people and injured 32 others in a mass shooting inside a medical building at Fort Hood, Texas, in November 2009.Armed with two guns and several magazines of ammunition, he shouted 'Allahu Akbar,' Arabic for 'God is great,' as he opened fire on soldiers awaiting medical tests and vaccines. Corinna Barrett Lain is an Army veteran, former prosecutor, the current George E Allen Chair in Law at the University of Richmond School of Law and a leading expert on the death penalty When she learned of the plan to live-stream Fort Hood killer Nidal Hasan's firing squad execution, Lain warned it could unleash terrifying consequences for AmericaHe was shot by responding law enforcement and has been confined to a wheelchair since. Hasan said he carried out the terror attack because he was angry that American troops were deployed to Afghanistan and wanted to protect Islamic and Taliban leaders. Lain published her first book, 'Secrets of the Killing State: The Untold Story of Lethal Injection' last yearTo this day, it remains the deadliest attack on a domestic military installation in US history. Hasan's court-martial trial took place in August 2013, and he was quickly found guilty of 13 counts of premeditated murder and 32 counts of attempted premeditated murder. A military jury then sentenced him to death after less than two hours of deliberation.Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth announced last week that Hasan's death by Army firing squad will be carried out on December 3, the first military execution since 1961, and claimed that it would be live-streamed.The announcement prompted a swift backlash.Lain warned that live-streaming the execution could expose children to it and the footage could even inspire terrorists.'If it’s on the web, children will see this,' she said. 'No one is going to be forced to watch it, but enough people will watch it, and it conditions us to violence and brutality.'Lain added: 'This is what authoritarian regimes do. There's nothing quite so effective for authoritarian regimes as the government killing someone for everyone to see.'I think most Americans think of the military as protecting Americans, particularly protecting us against foreign threats, and so to have our military turned on one of our own is also just deeply disturbing, for me as a veteran.' Hasan, an Army psychiatrist, murdered 13 people and injured 32 others when he opened fire inside a medical building at Fort Hood, Texas, in November 2009Lain believes that only a small fraction of people will want to watch a live-streamed execution. ‘I think there will be some minority. They are in the same group, in my mind, that is like, not only should we have the death penalty, but let’s torture them. They're the hardcore death penalty supporters,' she said.'That’s actually a small slice even among death penalty supporters. Most death penalty supporters just want the person gone; they’re very queasy about how the deed is done.' Vice President JD Vance admitted that if the live-stream follows through, he will not be watching.When asked about it on Friday, he told reporters: 'I don’t know that that’s actually going to happen.'President Donald Trump also seemed to pump the brakes on Saturday, telling reporters that he has not made a final decision on whether the execution would be live-streamed.Lain concluded that regardless of how Hasan's execution turns out, the spotlight on the death penalty in America is a good thing.‘If there’s any good that will come out of this, it is that people are talking about the death penalty,' she said.'They’re thinking about the death penalty, and not just how we kill, but whether we should kill, and what we're aiming to accomplish, and, you know, what this means for victims, and victims' families, and that sort of thing.’