Homicide and Capital Punishment

Murder, by definition, is an act of unlawfully killing a person especially with malice aforethought.  With that being said, it is difficult to find a reason why someone would murder any individual while thinking rationally.  Malice aforethought is the actual thinking and planning stages of carrying out an act.  In the context of a murder, there are many extenuating circumstances that come into play.  Most people do not set out to actually kill another human being.  The majority of murders are committed as crimes of passion and for the most part spontaneous with no prior thought or planning. 

            As far as deterrence of murder, the death penalty should be a huge factor, but according to statistics, this is not the case.  Perhaps it is because it is not a swift punishment and is not “seen” by the viewing public.  Most people know that it exists, but could not tell you the last person to be put to death by any institution much less how long ago their crime was committed.  Deterrence is measured on two separate scales, one being general deterrence and the other, specific deterrence.  General deterrence refers to the actual public being deterred away from committing a crime because of the punishment they could face if caught.  Specific deterrence is one individual and whether or not that punishment would work for them.  Of course, with the death penalty being the deterrence we are debating, it is clear that it would be a specific deterrence because if it is used on a person, they will not be killing anyone else!  So, we will speak of general deterrence and ways that the death penalty can deter someone who is thinking rationally during the action of the murder as opposed to someone who is clearly not thinking. 

            It is easy to come up with many reasons as to why someone would take another life if they were not thinking rationally.  There are serial murderers and spree murderers who are not thinking about the crime they are committing and most times have gone to great lengths to plan their crimes. Especially the serial murderers who are usually able to get away with it for some time; otherwise they would not be a serial murderer. Spree killers are more apt to have some impulsivity to their crimes.  Intimate homicide would also be a crime of impulse, or passion.  It can be a husband or wife that may have found out their significant other is cheating on them and lashes out by killing their spouse.  It could also be boyfriend and girlfriends who are in this same scenario.  There are other intimate homicides than just those that are committed by a lover.  Intimacy of the killer and victim doesn’t always mean that they are lovers.  Intimacy is simply referring to the assailant and victim being in some type of close relationship.  Over 50% of murders are committed by those that the victim knew, and most times, knew them well.