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Originally Posted by Cynthetiq
for you it's not a deterrent, for some people that I have met in my lifetime it has, just like in Singapore people I met were afraid to be caned.
I imagine those places where your hand gets cut off for stealing, that's a great deterrent for some people.
It doesn't have to be any significant number, since the reason we vet out the whole appeals process is to ensure that not 1 innocent person is killed by mistake. One seems to be enough most of the time.
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There are exceptions to every rule but I dont believe that the death penalty is a deterrent to most people that commit murder. I know a few people that have committed multiple murders and none of them consider the death penalty to be a worse sentance than life in prison, perhaps thats related to the reason they chose to commit murder. I would be interested in hearing about the people that made the decision not to commit murder based on the death penalty.
Fear of punishment is universal, but in the case of the death penalty we are discussing the fear of death being greater than the fear of life in prison. I am interested to know to what sort of person that distinction is material.