The purpose of lethals were to kill the threat not pardon them. When someone sits in a house and shoots people we lethal them so they cant be revived and continue to kill people (unless there more than 1 then you lethal both). We lethal bank roof and prison so its easier to push into the event and have a better chance of ending it with one person dead and another reviving, not to give them a pardon. Thats why lethals being a pardon was brought up in every APD meeting because people abused it too much. It gives incentive to keep going back to said event instead of the mindset "well he lost his bounty, im not going back".