Killing for Money: Does Crime Pay?

Perhaps surprisingly, contract killers are not as highly paid as you would have thought.

 Publishing in the Taylor & Francis journal Review of Social Economy, author Samuel Cameron attempts to dispel the myths behind the economy of crime, paying specific attention to contract killings with his article "Killing for Money and the Economic Theory of Crime." (click on the title for the entire article)

 No economist (and even very few criminologists or psychologists) has researched paid killing, adding to the importance of Cameron’s work in the field of economics. There is a wealth of literature on the economics of crime, although most attention is devoted to the deterrence of crime, rather than the contentious issue of contract killing.

 Detailed research on this topic is long over-due – the last detailed analysis of contract killings was data taken during 1989-2002 in Australia. Cameron provides fresh evidence taken from a small sample of paid killing cases in the UK from data collected in June 2011 spanning offences from 1972 to 2011. Key sources have also been consulted, such as the Daily Telegraph, Guardian, Daily Mail, and the BBC.

 The material and discussion presented in this article draw attention to the fact that the majority of paid killings take place for very small sums much lower than the economic value of life and lower too than what one would expect as compensation for efforts and risks of the contract killer.

 Findings include:

  • The total offer ranges from UK£200 up to a rather high offer of UK£1.5 million for an insurance claim case. Payment in perpetuity was offered only in one case at a rate of UK£400 every week for the rest of the life of the perpetrator.
  • The vast majority of cases (86.7%) indicate that the body was simply left on the spot. In a few other cases, disposal of the body took place—none of them very far from the scene of the crime
  • Hirers and paid killers operate in incomplete markets where it is not possible to write down enforceable contracts. A contract between a hirer and a hiree must by its very nature be implicit, as the individuals cannot form a legally binding contract which involves killing someone. This brings a number of risks - backmail, exploitation and failed performance, for example, but also, in case of failure, a crippled, maimed or injured target, as well as death or serious injury for the hiree from a target that fights back. Detection and punishment are risks for the hirer as well as the hiree.

*  *  *  *  *
Suggested reading:



Story source:   Samuel Cameron. Killing for Money and the Economic Theory of Crime. Review of Social Economy, 2013

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Workout supplements: An emerging eating disorder in men?

Image
therewontbeanydoves.wordpress.com When developing a fictional character, you may not think about the character using large amounts of over-the-counter dietary supplements.  Especially a man who uses large amounts of workout supplements. While there has been widespread publicity on the dangers of the non-prescribed use of anabolic steroids, not much is said about legal, over-the-counter supplements.  Are there risks?  And if so, what are they?  There are several things the writer should consider. Supplement use is becoming an eating disorder with many men who use them to prepare for and recover from a workout. There is growing evidence of a link between muscle-building supplements and testicular cancer. There is evidence that over-the counter medications and supplements are the most common causes of drug-induced liver failure (a rare event, but still a risk.)  There is even evidence that, “certain popular herbal and dietary supplements can also cause liver damage,"
Read more

Remember faces but not names? You got it wrong.

Image
Source:   Daily Excelsior So, you think you're good at remembering faces, but terrible with names? New research has revealed we are actually better at remembering names than faces The cringe-worthy experience of not being able to remember an acquaintance's name leads many of us to believe we are terrible with names. However, new research has revealed this intuition is misleading; we are actually better at remembering names than faces. With the Christmas party season fast approaching, there will be plenty of opportunity to re-live the familiar, and excruciatingly-awkward, social situation of not being able to remember an acquaintance's name. This cringe-worthy experience leads many of us to believe we are terrible at remembering names. However, new research has revealed this intuition is misleading; we are actually better at remembering names than faces. The authors of the study, from the University of York, suggest that when we castigate ourselves f
Read more

The Last Meal Test of Innocence

Image
Source:  huffingtonpost.co.uk Convicted serial killer John Wayne Gacy asked for fried chicken, shrimp, chips and strawberries for his last meal before execution . Those who deny guilt are 2.7 times more likely to decline a last meal than those who admit guilt. Suggested Reading Click on image Can last meals reveal more about individuals on death row than their taste preference? Some have argued there is significance embedded in death row last meal decisions. Famously, Ricky Ray Rector asked to save his untouched pecan pie for after his execution. This request sparked significant discussion about Rector's competency -- on the basis of his food request. Similarly, in a documentary film about last suppers, Swedish artists Bigert and Bergstrom claimed a connection between whether or not an individual chooses to have a last meal and his or her guilt. In each case, there is an assertion that last meals are relevant to the legitimacy of an execution. It is these signals
Read more

Your Brain Spots Grammar Error You Might Miss

May 13, 2013 — Your brain often works on autopilot when it comes to grammar. That theory has been around for years, but University of Oregon neuroscientists have captured elusive hard evidence that people indeed detect and process grammatical errors with no awareness of doing so. Participants in the study -- native-English speaking people, ages 18-30 -- had their brain activity recorded using electroencephalography, from which researchers focused on a signal known as the Event-Related Potential (ERP). This non-invasive technique allows for the capture of changes in brain electrical activity during an event. In this case, events were short sentences presented visually one word at a time. Subjects were given 280 experimental sentences, including some that were syntactically (grammatically) correct and others containing grammatical errors, such as "We drank Lisa's brandy by the fire in the lobby," or "We drank Lisa's by brandy the fire in the lobby."
Read more

Tiny molecular change linked to psychiatric illness

Image
Based on this research, it appears that a tiny change on the molecular level in the brain cells of babies can lead to all sorts of psychiatric problems later in life.  Drinking, physical abuse, drug use or illness in the mother, all can cause illnesses such as schizophrenia and some forms of autism and bipolar disorders for a fetus.  We're talking of changes of the most basic chemical type within the developing fetal cells of a newborn leading to a lifetime of mental issues. This information, perhaps not directly related to a character in your story, can help you understand how this person became the way they are.  In the debate of nature versus nurture, it appears that nature is the culprit.  This asks the question, "can talk therapy cure such a disease when its cause is genetic?"  I can't answer this. From a human standpoint, since the stem cells of people with a psychiatric problem were used to make this "diagnosis", is there hope that a stem cell th
Read more