On the face of it the answer might be that it’s a pretty good deterrent but in the guts of it it’s a terrible idea imo. In the short term that could work, it’s obviously been done in the past, probably for thousands of years. Over the past few decades I’ve thought that might be an effective plan - at least theoretically. But I don’t think it would be. Going back to more violent means of punishing criminality is just that - going backwards. We need to go forward- which to me means taking all the knowledge we have gained and looking for better solutions, then trying those. I heard a lecture a few months ago on early American (I mean at the time of the founding of the US) crime and punishment and the lecturer suggested that the goal of criminal punishment at that time was twofold - punishment for the crime committed and motivation to not repeat the crime but instead, after paying the price, re-enter society as a law-abiding citizen. That sounds like a good goal. But it’s all easier said than done. But ultimately returning to those types of punishments (like public hangings) is a horrible idea. We can do better.
On the face of it the answer might be that it’s a pretty good deterrent but in the guts of it it’s a terrible idea imo. In the short term that could work, it’s obviously been done in the past, probably for thousands of years. Over the past few decades I’ve thought that might be an effective plan - at least theoretically. But I don’t think it would be. Going back to more violent means of punishing criminality is just that - going backwards. We need to go forward- which to me means taking all the knowledge we have gained and looking for better solutions, then trying those. I heard a lecture a few months ago on early American (I mean at the time of the founding of the US) crime and punishment and the lecturer suggested that the goal of criminal punishment at that time was twofold - punishment for the crime committed and motivation to not repeat the crime but instead, after paying the price, re-enter society as a law-abiding citizen. That sounds like a good goal. But it’s all easier said than done. But ultimately returning to those types of punishments (like public hangings) is a horrible idea. We can do better.