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.
place marker