[mcpackieh]

Not just poisons, but also explosives, knives, guns, bludgeoning weapons, battery acid, cars... there are innumerable ways to kill or maim people but very rarely do people do these things. The truth is that very few people are ever inclined to murder. Remember this the next time politicians try to make you afraid and tell you they need to xray everybody and grope grandma to stop the terrorists.

[sinkwool]

> The truth is that very few people are ever inclined to murder.

I believe that many people are afraid of the consequences if they were to get caught. I think that if there was some "magical" way to murder someone without getting caught, there would be vastly more murders. Just think of any road rage video: I imagine that many of the participants would be capable of murder at that instance if they knew they would get away with it. Or think about school shootings: how many more would there be if the perpetrators were sure that it was consequence free.

[mcpackieh]

I don't believe that. People commit lesser crimes with similar punishments (many years in prison) at a much higher rate; why doesn't the threat of punishment make armed robbery or burglary as rare as murder?

Furthermore, if somebody wants to coldly kill for the thrill of it, they can probably do so and get away with it because police suck at solving murders when the murderer and the victim didn't already know each other, yet people being randomly murdered by strangers is very rare, even more rare than other kinds of murders. The easiest kind of murder to get away with is the most rare kind of murder!

Additionally, if somebody is so enraged as to seriously consider murder, they are emotionally compromised and rational consideration of the consequences is therefore unlikely.

For these reasons, I conclude that punishment is not an effective deterrent to murder. Punishment is an effective deterrent for some other kinds of crimes, but not murder.

> Just think of any road rage video: I imagine that many of the participants would be capable of murder at that instance if they knew they would get away with it.

There's a huge difference between believing somebody deserves to be yelled at (or even beaten up) and believing they deserve to be killed. Just because people are very angry at each other doesn't mean they're suppressing a homicidal impulse. And even if they were suppressing a homicidal impulse, that restraint is likely motivated by the innate empathy most humans except an aberrant few experience. If the only thing keeping you from murdering people is the threat of punishment, you're probably a high-functioning sociopath. Most people aren't.