Murder and society: why commit murder?

1 Murder and society : why commitmurder?Peter Morrall looks at how the phenomenon of Murder varies inmotivation, cause, definition and consequences according to globalsituations and societal official global Murder rate per annum isrising toward one million (Morrall, 2006).But there is no universal, cross-culturalmeaning of Murder that can be adhered to in anycontext, no matter who are the victims and who thekillers. Murdering can be sanctioned by the State(the death penalty) or by groups with a particularinterest in using Murder (suicide-bombers) as atactic to achieve what are considered laudableaims not only by themselves but by other groupsor , societies adopt their own moralhierarchies of Murder depending on who are thevictims and who are the perpetrators.

2 This meansthat even if all killing is legally proscribed, particulartypes of killing are given harsher punishments thanothers. Furthermore, punishments vary hugelytransnationally. Non-custodial sentences mayapply for infanticide in some countries, whereasin others it is viewed as warranting long-termimprisonment. In some parts of the world the deathpenalty is handed out for drug-trafficking, adultery,and sedition, but in other parts these acts may notbe even criminalised or they attract alternativeapproaches to social control such as medicaltreatment and for example the Iraq war. According toresearch by Burnham et al (2006), 655,000 Iraqicivilians have died in the three years following theinvasion of 2003.

3 Yet the invasion forces do notroutinely collect data on civilian deaths. Therefore,the criminal or military justice systems, except inrare cases, do not address these killings. By the endof 2006 only a handful of American troops and oneBritish soldier had been found guilty of any seriouscrime in which Iraqi civilians had died (althoughfour US marines were awaiting trial for the murderof 24 civilians in the town of Haditha).MotivesSo, what can be said about the reasons forcommitting Murder when there are so manytypes of murders? 'Motive' is central to policeinvestigations. Although a conviction is possiblewithout a motive being discovered, finding aspecific reason makes it much more likely.

4 Motivesfor Murder can be condensed into four sets of 'Ls':Lust; Love; Loathing; and Loot:Lust: a lover kills a rival for his/her object of desire;the 'thrill-killer' who murders people because hegains a sexual : the 'mercy killing' of a baby with a majordeformity or partner with incurable : lethal hate directed towards one person(for example, an abusive parent), group (such ashomosexuals or prostitutes), culture or nation (forexample, Palestinians towards Israelis and visaversa).Loot: killing for financial gain through inheritanceor insurance pay-outs; a Murder occurring duringa robbery, or gang-warfare over the control ofdrug markets; employment as a contract killer finding a motive for Murder does not go farenough to explain Murder .

5 Most people experiencelust, love, and loathing, and seek 'loot' in the senseof wishing to be free from financial , the vast majority of people do not murderers be considered to be either mador bad? A few very 'mad' people do kill becauseof their psychotic delusions and hallucinations,or because they have psychopathic personalities(Morrall, 2000). But most people who suffer frommental disorder (even those who are severelyparanoid or psychopathic) do not kill. Moreover,defining madness is in itself contentious and can bea 'default' label when no motive is , the most 'evil' individuals inhistory (for example, Hitler, Pol Pot, Stalin, andMao), are viewed as heroes by some inhabitantsof the very countries whose populations they ruledwith such terrible cruelty.

6 Modern military andpolitical leaders, whilst executing warfare, construethe deaths of innocent civilians not as Murder butas 'collateral damage'. Computerised modellingof likely outcomes from their lethal interventionsinform them at the planning stage about just howmany babies, children and adults are going todie. Consequently, 'badness' can be a matter , the male sex hormone, can becorrelated with competitive and assertive behaviour( Murder is largely an act of men, although womenare becoming more violent). A reduction of serotoninincreases the likelihood of spur-of-the-moment and36 CENTRE FOR CRIME AND JUSTICE STUDIES hostile impulses.

7 Alterations in the breakdown of glucosein the body also appear to affect mood and behaviour. Bothhyperglycaemia and hypoglycaemia can lead to in the bloodstream undermines higher-order controlexercised by the cerebral cortex. Environmental pollutantscirculating in the body (for example, pesticides and lead)are linked to heightened aggression. Nutritional deficienciescaused by eating too much 'junk' food may provoke aggressivebehaviour and even Murder (Lawrence, 2006).For the evolutionary psychologist David Buss, killingis a core element of human nature because in evolutionaryterms it serves a purpose. Specifically, it is advantageous toreproduction.

8 It is an adaptive strategy. Murder , therefore,is inherently logical. The mind is designed to Murder . Thegains for killing, argues Buss, are: the killer has not beenkilled and therefore can reproduce; augmenting his (and itusually is a man) own survival and the death of a reproductiverival, he can have sex with the dead man's mate, and take hisproperty; it scares the hell out of any would-be antagonist;he is immediately converted into a sexually attractive partnerfor admiring females; he has displayed another attribute thatthese doting but vulnerable women need, protection frompredatorial males (presumably, also from dinosaurs and othermarauding beasties).

9 SocietySandra Bloom (2001) argues that Western societies,particularly the USA, are essentially 'sick' due to theiraddiction to violence. It is society rather than individuals thatpropagates violence. Values such as those associated withactual physical violence, or competitiveness in sport and atwork, are inculcated into the individual via, for example, theeducational system and the Godsi (2004) points out how violent acts of thepowerful in society are concealed, whereas the violence ofthe powerless are revealed. For example, governments andbusinesses are responsible for the spread of Creutzfeldt-Jakob Disease (CJD), asbestosis, and methicillin-resistantstaphylococcus aureus (MRSA).

10 The tobacco and armsindustries have brought about millions of deaths in the firstworld, and continue to do so in the third and Regoeczi (2004) have analysed differentmurder situations for different sorts of people in the USA (forexample, men, women, teenagers, adults, strangers, intimates,blacks, whites and Hispanics). They suggest that murderscommitted using guns revolve around issues of gender, race,class and urban locations. Moreover, violence is correlatedwith 'hot spot' situations such as parking lots, bars/pubs, nightclubs, accident and emergency hospital units, psychiatric acuteservices, sex shops and 'red light' areas, drug-buying locationsand shelters for the homeless.