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I am of the personal belief that the death penalty lacks effectiveness as a deterrent only because of the lengthy delay between being handed down and carried out.

It was very easy to steal a horse in the Wild West. No one locked them to the hitching post. There weren't lowjack devices hidden under the saddle. Barns and corrals didn't have CCTV systems being monitored around the clock by security guards. The ratio of police/citizens was quite low as well. Despite all this, horse thefts were rare - because if you stole one and got caught, you could count on dancing in air. Very soon. Publicly.

Drawing out the punishment for years means there is a great disconnect between the crime and the consequence. The larger this disconnect, the less it influences the decision to do the crime.