Justified or not, "If This Goes On..." eventually the moral calculus is going to shift to where that's an acceptable response, and one sufficiently supported by the population that solving many such crimes will become very, very difficult.

There are many consequences to excesses by the state like this case, and this is probably one of the more minor ones.

> and rape used to be a capital crime, for which you could in fact get the death penalty.

All felonies used to be capital crimes, for which you could in fact get the death penalty.