But it happened comparatively rarely. Now that there is no punishment for it, there are abortions by the millions every year. The simple fact is that no one believes that people would behave the same way if they were no threat of punishment. In every area of life, not just in the matter of criminal behavior, we must and do reckon with the consequences of choices and behavior. And, for most people, and for society in general, the more sure and the more severe the threatened punishment, the less likely one is to commit the crime.
Many more people speed than commit burglary.
God has made us that way. And it is a great wrong, which strikes at the dignity of human beings, to seek to break the connection between our actions and their just deserts. It is also near blasphemy to argue that it is wrong to punish in order to deter, for God is always punishing us with exactly that intention. He teaches us to do good by making us fear the consequences of doing evil. Now, that is the Bible's doctrine of capital punishment.