Public hanging is an excellent deterrent. It should be used more liberally.
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People don’t see death anymore, except fake death in TV, Movies and Video Games. So if kids actually saw rotting meat on bones, they might think twice before doing some of the stuff they do. Not to say it would be completely eradicated, but it sure would help.
I doubt it. Do a Google image search on "Lynching" and see how many grinning kids there you can spot, standing around the body. Lynching was exciting stuff. So were public executions, and you can see kids in the crowd for those, too. And since there were still plenty of murders in those days.... the deterrent effect may not have been all that great.
The only real deterrent is morality and respect for others -- which are in increasingly short supply, it would seem.
No, watching them dangle and choke to death is what they need to see, unless you use the drop method.