Contract killing

The Hired Assassins (Ernest Meissonier, 1852)

Contract killing, sometimes known as murder-for-hire, refers to the act in which one party employs another party to murder a targeted person via an illegal agreement that involves some form of compensation, monetary or otherwise. An act of contract killing is known colloquially as a hit, and the person performing the killing (i.e. the contract killer or "contractor") is known as the hitman or (as borrowed from Spanish) "sicario".

Statistics

Contract killings generally make up a small percentage of murders. For example, they accounted for about 6% of all murders in Scotland from 1993 to 2002. Despite the popular attention in the media, the act of contract killing received very little attention in the academic literature.

A study by the Australian Institute of Criminology of 162 contract murders and attempted contract murders in Australia between 1989 and 2002 indicated that the most common reason for murder-for-hire was insurance policy payouts. The study also found that payments varied from $5,000 to $30,000 per killing, with an average of $15,000, and that the most commonly used weapons were firearms. Contract killings accounted for 2% of murders in Australia during that period.

To mitigate risk for the individual seeking a hitman, and signal legitimacy, vendors emphasize privacy and anonymity while claiming ties to established organizations like the military or mafia.

See also

References

  1. ↑ Shanty, Frank; Mishra, Patit Paban (September 24, 2007). Organized Crime: From Trafficking to Terrorism [2 volumes]. Bloomsbury Publishing USA. ISBN 978-1-59884-102-2.
  2. ↑ Roddy, Ariel L.; Holt, Thomas J. (2022). "An Assessment of Hitmen and Contracted Violence Providers Operating Online". Deviant Behavior. 43 (2): 139–151. doi:10.1080/01639625.2020.1787763.
  3. ↑ "Hit man Definition & Meaning | Britannica Dictionary".
  4. ↑ "SICARIO definition in American English | Collins English Dictionary". February 13, 2020.
  5. ↑ "Homicide in Scotland, 2002". Government of Scotland.
  6. ↑ Cameron, Samuel (2014). "Killing for Money and the Economic Theory of Crime". Review of Social Economy. 72: 28–41. doi:10.1080/00346764.2013.845336.
  7. ↑ https://doi.org/10.1111/hojo.12126Digital Object Identifier (DOI)
  8. ↑ De Korte, Laura R.; Kleemans, Edward R. (2022). "Contract killings: A crime script analysis". Trends in Organized Crime. 25: 130–143. doi:10.1007/s12117-021-09411-4.
  9. ↑ "Lovers top contract killing hit list". CNN. February 5, 2004.
  10. ↑ Roddy, A. L., & Holt, T. J. (2022). An assessment of hitmen and contracted violence providers operating online. Deviant Behavior, 43(2), 139-151.