Societies previously “hung the bodies of criminals and traitors in public”—so those watching them being hanged were deterred from committing similar crimes and suffering the same fate.
By “similar fate,” are you referring to death or having their bodies gawked at while they decayafter death? Can you see how these are two different things?
“Deterrent” has no explanatory power. It’s just a label. You need to consider why a person would be deterred by it.
Through not wanting to be hung, I should think.
Why not want to be hung after death? Your body cannot feel anything at that point.
Societies previously “hung the bodies of criminals and traitors in public”—so those watching them being hanged were deterred from committing similar crimes and suffering the same fate.
By “similar fate,” are you referring to death or having their bodies gawked at while they decay after death? Can you see how these are two different things?
Death. The gawking is publicity—without which the deterrent is less effective.
Without the public display, people will not have seen it with their own eyes.