[dfwgator]

Also a very important thing to bear in mind — even with major offenses against younger and more innocent children — is that if you use the death penalty for offenses that don’t result in death, you’re in effect giving the offenders an incentive to kill the victim (and to decrease their chances of getting caught by leaving no witnesses).

I understand what you're saying, but on the other hand, that implies that perhaps if there were a death penalty, it would deter them from even trying in the first place.

[GJones2]

> “I understand what you’re saying, but on the other hand, that implies that perhaps if there were a death penalty, it would deter them from even trying in the first place.” <

I believe it probably would deter a considerable number, but many persons are going to give in to their passions anyway. The ones who do will kill a greater percentage of their victims. I don’t think saving a thousand children from being molested at all is worth the loss of, say, ten or twenty more children, who might have otherwise been able to come back alive.

I don’t think that’s an exaggerated number but rather a conservative one. A single murderer who leaves no witnesses might kill that many before getting caught.