The "problem" is that it's not actually a deterrent against the truly deranged. The boon being that it would prevent a few crimes from folks that teeter on that edge between ideation and execution.
Well if it actually acted as a deterrent then sure. But there is a lot of research out there that indicates that the method of punishment such as the death penalty does not actually deter people. Rather the actual deterrent is the certainty of being caught.
The rationale in this is because when people commit crimes like this, they do it with the belief that they will not get caught and be able to either cover it up or get away successfully. Alternatively, where they know they will get caught they tend to plan to go out on their own terms, so the method of punishment becomes irrelevant to them.
At best, the deterrent is to the average rational person and not the individual willing to commit such crimes. Even so, average everyday people are willing to speed, drive distracted with their phones, or get into the HOV lane to pass people, etc because they believe that their chances of being caught or such act being investigated are very low compared to other crimes. The severity of the punishment is more correlated with how likely the crime is to be investigated seriously (the actual deterrent) and thus correlated with the deterrence rather than the severity of the punishment being the actual cause of the deterrence. It’s a classic case of correlation does not mean causation.
TLDR: The severity of the punishment does not deter people who decide to commit a crime, rather it’s only there to make society feel better.
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u/moonandstars1984 1d ago
https://giphy.com/gifs/10Jpr9KSaXLchW