When a prospective juror says that he supports the death penalty because he believes it is a deterrent, what is the current state of the law on the issue?

(b) When a prospective juror stated that he supported the death penalty because he believed it was a deterrent, the court agreed that it was a deterrent to the person executed but warned that the notion of general deterrence was a controversial one and, more importantly, that the juror's task was not to "send any message to any future criminal that may be out in the community to stop them from committing crimes by your conduct of a particular capital case. [] So the moral is, you should not impose a death sentence for the reason solely of deterrent but only if it's the appropriate punishment as to the particular individual who is being sentenced. Okay?" This was not error. (Cf. People v. Bittaker, supra, 48 Cal.3d at pp. 1105-1106, 259 Cal.Rptr. 630, 774 P.2d 659.)