NCJ Number
143895
Date Published
1993
Length
349 pages
Annotation
This book combines perspectives from law, science, and literature to assess the relative importance of the effects of organic, psychological, and social factors on the intent to kill.
Abstract
The author first identifies and assesses the major factors and variables embodied in theories of the cause of criminal homicide. This is followed by a classification of homicides based on the individual interests served and the group interests violated by killing people. A chapter elaborates on each of the types of homicide identified: killing for profit, robbery murder, defensive homicide, recreational murder, and murder for high principle. Five chapters develop the perspective that confusion over the causes of homicide distorts the fact-finding and judgmental processes of the murder trial. A chapter then challenges the conventional views of the causes of homicide with an existential view of reality. The concluding chapter assesses existing policies and programs used to control violent crime and then recommends what should be done to obstruct and stifle the intent to kill. This assessment focuses on the remediation of social conditions that undermine respect for life and cultivate violent behavior, as well as the implementation of policies that reduce the easy accessibility of guns. 260 references and name and subject indexes