A deterrent threat requires public awareness to be credible

Evidence

In the past, executions were publicized in the press. Opponents of capital punishment held vigils at execution sites. Nowadays, most executions go unnoticed except in certain cases. A credible threat, such as a mass murderer, must be salient and widely known. Without awareness of occasional executions in distant states and poorly publicized rare ones within their own jurisdiction, many people may not even know whether their state has the death penalty or how strictly it is enforced. — Albert Bandura, Moral Disengagement, 1948

Categorization

• corroborated: 2 independent passages support this claim — Albert Bandura, Moral Disengagement: How People Do Harm…, 1948
• XREF: connects to: Disclosure regulation relies on informed donors and press scrutiny for deterrence. — Henry M. Hart, Jr. and Albert M. Sacks, The Legal Process: Basic Problems in…, 1346