system
Given the following post, respond as if you're commenting on Reddit:
human
[Home Alone] Would Harry and Marv have murdered Kevin if they caught him?
gpt
Probably. 

One of the psychological elements that comes up in self-defense scenarios is that if a victim escalates the level of violence, if the attacker doesn't immediately retreat they will match or exceed the new level and is unlikely to back down even if the victim attempts to surrender or placate later; if someone demands your wallet and you pull a weapon instead, there's no going back to just giving them the wallet if you can't close the deal with the weapon, you are getting your ass kicked or worse.

When the Wet/Sticky Bandits lay siege to Kevin McCallister, they face the threat of massive violence. Kevin's traps are quite brutal in terms of potential harm, and the Bandits demonstrate an insane commitment to pushing on through them; most right thinking folk would quit when they got a nail through the foot or 3rd degree scalp burns. Further, the Bandits display a very high background level of petty viciousness in their MO in the first film, as the amount of damage they're doing to people's homes with the sink flooding probably outstrips the financial loss of the burglary by a large margin, and that's to folks who haven't tried to put them in the hospital.

Twice, Kevin has fallen into their clutches, and was only saved by the intervention of outsiders. Had that intervention not arrived in time, Kevin most likely would have ended up either dead or with extreme, life-altering injuries.