Dylann Roof sentenced to death for Charleston church massacre

People who aren't criminals think the death penalty should inspire fear and be a deterrent. People who murder in passion or in cold blood don't think like you do.

It's like saying a war on drugs with harsh sentencing will lower usage. Despite the huge penalties against marijuana use and treating it as a worse drug than meth on the DEA schedules, in every state where marijuana has been legalized studies have shown the exact same number of people that smoked weed before still smoke it. What does that mean? It means the laws had zero impact on people who wanted to smoke pot. Suburban churchgoers and tea totalers think and "common sense" tells you that fear and criminalization will reduce usage. All those are proven wrong. There was no boost of people who wanted to smoke, but refrained because of the law. Everyone who wanted to smoke already did.

Just because you think something makes sense or should have an effect you'd expect to be universal doesn't make it so. Check out the science, not the feelings.