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You'd be wrong about the deterrent effect.
Back in medieval Europe, the punishment for counterfeiting was to be boiled in lead, an inch at a time. People counterfeited anyway.
What matters is only the degree to which the criminal thinks he will be caught, or cares. Serial killers don't care if they end up dead. They enjoy the killing enroute. You're never going to deter that.
Likewise street gang killings, and domestic killings done in rage. Nothing will stop the nuts from doing it. They're nuts. You can probably dissuade the rational, cold-blooded killers to a degree, but they're usually professionals and don't get caught.

"Back in medieval Europe, the punishment for ounterfeiting was to be boiled in lead"

Back in medieval Europe they believed in witches, demonic possession, and most still believed in dragons. Back in medieval Europe they did not have TV or the Internet. The deterrent effect was minimized by being in a story.

It was NOT real to most people because they never saw it or heard it. Modern marketing is proof that a verbal or printed story is NO WHERE near as effective as the visual and aural.

Infomercials are the silly proof of that. How well would a clear plastic oven that cooks with hot air have sold? Ronco sold millions, yet sales of convection ovens previously never took off.

So I disagree. The effect of seeing someone actually get killed by being burnt to death, or locked in a car and drowned would have a massive effect.

Just hearing a story about it is no where near as real as seeing it LIVE (or on reruns).