Most executions go unnoticed, so the public cannot gauge deterrent threats.

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

Category: Factual Claims

• XREF: Connects to the broader theme of media shaping moral perception, and to the idea that absent visible enforcement, deterrence theories lack a perceptual basis.

Related

• A deterrent threat requires public awareness to be credible (similarity 0.93)
• Secrecy of executions contradicts the deterrent rationale for capital punishment (similarity 0.83)
• Documented execution failures have eroded public confidence in capital punishment (similarity 0.81)
• The death-penalty deterrence question resists controlled experiments because society cannot randomize executions. (similarity 0.80)
• Secluded midnight executions undermine the stated deterrent rationale for the death penalty. (similarity 0.79)
• Public moral debate threatens the justifications that shield harm-doers from distress. (similarity 0.78)