Under What Circumstances Would You Commit Murder?

[Halie]

I wouldn't be able to go through with murder. Especially not to a child, or someone about my age.

I do joke about killing chavs with my friends every now and then, because they're the most annnoying species on Earth, they're rude, and chaotic in a very bad way. In case you don't know what a chav is, then take a goth, and think of the exact opposite ^_^

Even if a person were to harm someone I really loved, I still wouldn't be able to kill them, even though I would desperately want to. I just wouldn't be able to, I'm not strong enough to go against my will. I hate watching people being killed in films, and I hope I never have to watch someone be killed in reality. Of course, I wouldn't just stand by and watch them die, I would try to help, but if I was under a paticular circumstance where I was unable to, I wouldn't be able to live with myself or the mental image of it. It would really haunt me >_>

[Walter Sobchak]

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ECC4XBbvKSY

I think this is the best example one can make of a justifiable murder. What the boxer did is a completely human reaction, one that any reasonable person would be expected to do. If the same incident occurred in the wild, the results would be the exact same.

[Karma]

The only way I would be able to commit murder is if someone was trying to murder me or any other of my close friends. I believe if someone is trying to kill you, it is logical to give them the same punishment they were going to give u, if only in self defense.

Under any other means, though, is quite unessecary and irrational.

[InfiniteRealms]

I dont think any of us can really tell if we have the strength of body and/or mind to kill someone. We can think, joke, laugh, talk about it, but the only real way to be sure it to try it, which i intend to try not to do.

If someone tried to kill me, and i killed them back, it ist self defence unless killing them is the only option, because they were so insanely bent on your, or someone close to you's destruction that they will never give up.

[dongs.]

I'm more of a believer of karma. Not only that, I've got a firm belief of God. It's not my place to take someone's life away.. even if they've taken a loved one from me. I want them prosecuted, but I'm certainly not going to go out and buy a gun/knife/weapon with the intent to kill. It's one of those "Just because they did it, doesn't mean I have the right to do the same thing."

I don't know. Perhaps under certain circumstances things would be different.. but for now, that's my two cents.

[Sean]

Only two situations I can ever find myself in to commit murder

1. Self defense. Be it accidental (I went too far) or on purpose because my life was truly threatened (He had a knife/gun, ect)

2. If I were enrolled in the military and fighting in a war. This shouldn't need an explanation.

[Unknown Entity]

I don't think I'd ever be able to kill anyone. I do joke about having a hitlist of all the people I wanna kill when I become an assassin, but the chances I'll ever become an assassin are very low. I don't think I'd have it in me to pull a trigger, or lunge a knife into someone, or... blow a ceiling support thing up so something lands on my victims head... (I think I've been playing too much Hitman... O_O)

However... If anyone lays a finger on my family, or my future family - especially my children - I will make them suffer. I still don't think I'd be able to kill, but I'll show them pain, just like any other family loving person.

IF I end up in the army - which again, is unlikely - I'll have no choose. UNLESS I had a job which was purely desk work. I don't think I have it in me to hold and fire a gun - its shows how weak you are, no matter what you are defending.

The only way I could possibly commit murder is by going too far in self-defence.

So yeah. Murder just... isn't what I'm capable of doing.

[Dizz]

I'd never murder someone, nor would I have the guts to. Unless, of course, it was for self-defense. If I ever did murder someone, it would most likely be accidental, and I'd turn myself in.
I'm not good when under pressure or guilt. =/
You can trust me on that.

[Linkinpark4399]

i wouldn't murdded unless it was for my family then i would. But i cann't pictor myslef killing someone

[Koda]

Wow! Well to begin with, if it is a planned and/or plotted design to destroy and end someone's life, that means it would be premeditated, therefore could not be self defense. So any post claiming self defense or protecting a family member, etc. is blown out of the water.

So I guess to answer your question, I would have to say that there is no way I could plot to kill anyone. The only place I find premeditated murder acceptable would be during war time..such as now...when all troops are making stratigic plans of attack for their own survival. And I don't even consider that murder simply because it is either our troops lives or theirs. That may sound harsh with the civilians and such, but just my opinion.

Murder outside of military/police orders is just that....murder. And no one deserves to be killed for any reason. Self defense or protecting family members or friends at the time any kind of disturbance is happening is entirely a different story.

[Jesus Christ]

I can't think of a reason I'd want to kill anyone, but if I were to do so, I would implement sedatives or some other way of knocking whatever target out, and I would find an isolated body of water, drown them and sink them. No bloody mess left behind, one hell of a search for the body, destruction of evidence. I'd likely get away with it.

Not that I'd do it.

[Slick]

A kid walks up, stabs a fellow soldier in the side...
It only took two shots and the kid was done.
When someone asked...next time it could have been a grenade.

This world is surrounded in a shroud of darkness today...it sucks when you have to murder someone because they threaten your life. Ending someone's life is a common case for some people due to their profession, lifestyle, or other attributes. Everything in life has it's reason's, and when it comes to your life or someone elses who wants to kill you, who is it going to be?

Possibly because I'm trained in it, but I do not think twice of killing someone who has any intent of ending my life. I'm not ready to die, so sometimes it takes certain circumstances to stay alive...

[gaara of the desert]

hmm intresting there are many people i want to die but im not sure if i would be able to kill them myself seeing as dont want to go to jail and plan on living a fuffilling life however if pushed to far eg: they constantly try to undermine me at everyturn and constantly screw up my life and or hurt my friends or family or even me i would probably do it in a fit of rage with a bigass hammer or other blunt object

[Sinister]

Wow! Well to begin with, if it is a planned and/or plotted design to destroy and end someone's life, that means it would be premeditated, therefore could not be self defense. So any post claiming self defense or protecting a family member, etc. is blown out of the water.

So I guess to answer your question, I would have to say that there is no way I could plot to kill anyone. The only place I find premeditated murder acceptable would be during war time..such as now...when all troops are making stratigic plans of attack for their own survival. And I don't even consider that murder simply because it is either our troops lives or theirs. That may sound harsh with the civilians and such, but just my opinion.

Murder outside of military/police orders is just that....murder. And no one deserves to be killed for any reason. Self defense or protecting family members or friends at the time any kind of disturbance is happening is entirely a different story.

That's one of the more intelligent posts in this thread. You not only have a brain, but you know what it's for. Where others pandered saying things about self-defense or duty to country, you hit right on the matter.

So far I've only heard two replies to this thread, in all it's days and that was "Revenge" and "Never". No one here claimed they would do it because someone got on their nerves or because they were feeling bad, so I'm assuming none of you are accomplished sociopaths or even entertaining the thought of sociopathic behavior. That's reassuring.

But does that mean that we can take it that there really is no reason to commit murder? Or is Justice/Military Service/Self-Defense just thinly veiled excuses for what people refer to as justifiable homicide, but is actually murder?

These lines that we use to define murder and justice are VERY important. Because, if you think that now, today, the same "justice-system" that handed down verdicts in the O.J. Simpson trial, The Blake Trial, Jackson Trial, the very same court system is rendering death sentences.

This is not some liberal propaganda I'm trying to spread. I have no agenda here. I'm just making sure no one mistakes what they assume. Is murder the forcible taking of a human life or not? I don't want definitions to overlap here.

Please don't resort to definitions from dictionary websites or even wikipedia. I don't want what they say, I want to hear the raw opinion from normal people who don't consult official documents.

-Sin

[Pete]

This might get a little jumbled, so stick with me on this. I'll try to be as clear and concise as I can be, but I feel that this may branch off a bit at points, plus I'm in a bit of a rush.


Sinister, if you're using that definition, then yes, walking up to someone and forcibly taking their life would be murder. That being said, I don't feel that it's justified to take a life without a valid reason. That's the bare bones of it. I do honestly believe that in some special circumstances, an act of murder is an acceptable means to an end. Yet, what we are debating here is not a matter of if murder is right or wrong, but rather when people believe they would. And I'm a little surprised too, that on this particular site we don't have any sociopaths. Then again the Brotherhood of Doom is long gone...

Now the idea of a valid reason is where it gets tricky, and I feel that much of it lies in personal belief. I will state my own beliefs of when I believe it is justified. Though regardless, I'll reiterate the idea that taking a life is murder.

Murder as an act of self defense:
I do feel that some murder is justifiable though. Say if a police officer is being shot at, or the situation that Slick described, where his life and his fellow soldier's life were in danger. Taking the life of the attacker is a perfectly fine action. You should have every right and every means of defending your own life and the life of others. In this same vein is military service. The rules of engagement are created so that there are some kind of "good target/ bad target" allowances. Such as, "it's ok to kill the guys with guns who will try to kill you; it's bad to kill the women and children," (unless of course they're also trying to kill you).

Murder as an act of mercy:

Take Terry Schiavo for example here. (Please let's not get into the politics of this!) She was in a ton of pain and suffering for years, and she was ultimately being held prisoner in a body that she had no control over. Politics aside, I feel that she should have been allowed to have a peaceful and dignified death without the whole media circus. She was only going to suffer for even longer, as long as she was hooked up to the machines. In fact, she wasn't even really alive without them. I feel that in a situation such as this, forcibly taking her life, by pulling the plug, would be considered an act of murder, though it would be justified by providing final peace to a long-suffering woman. Granted, I'm not saying that we should go to the hospital with a shotgun and blow holes in every coma patient, but it should be viewed as an act of mercy in the right circumstances.


I do not believe that murder due to rage or revenge is justifiable. Despite our own human emotions and weaknesses, it would not be right to take the life of someone who took the life of someone we loved or cared about. As much as I would love to knock the shit out of the guy who date raped one of my best friends, I'd much rather see him behind bars, getting put on the receiving end of that.

That leads me to the last point on murder, I think. At this point in time, I don't really believe in capital punishment. I think that by choosing to kill another person, that in itself is an act of murder which is not justified. I feel this way mostly because I think that life in prison, while it may cost the tax payer more (yet another topic for a rainy day, yay!), might be a bit of a crueler fate than death. I certainly wouldn't want to be in prison until I died.



I feel that a much more appropriate title for this thread, or rather, a better question is, "Under what circumstances, COULD you commit murder?" The current question seems more like a checklist. "Self defense? Sure. Oh, and revenge too, yep. War's on the list as well." Koda does bring up an excellent point, in that saying you would murder someone in x circumstance, does indeed make it premeditated. Just because you're not planning on killing, say John Smith, with the candlestick in the garage, by setting up the scenario in your mind of "if I find someone breaking into my house, I'll cut their throat," you're doing the same exact thing, just that you'll wind up killing some other person.

This new question is much more of a gut check. Could you bring yourself to do the act? Not WOULD, but COULD?

[Sinister]

Fairly dealt with, but it leaves behind one big question...

I feel that in a situation such as this, forcibly taking her life, by pulling the plug, would not be considered an act of murder.

Does this mean that you disagree with the statement that Murder is, by definition, the forcible taking of a human life?

Because, if you do, then the entire question must be reformed. If that's not murder, then murder can't be as described earlier and must be more specific. And if it is more specific it would, by ruling of it's specificity, not include military service or self-defense, as Koda suggested.

Then it may be possible, if better definitions can be provided, to say that murder is not justifiable ever. Barring someone claiming that murder, by definition of it's nature is unjustifiable. We want to claim that murder is unjustifiable independent of it's definition. To claim that it is, by nature of it's definition, unjustifiable, does not help us. Anyone?

[Pete]

Actually, you got me on a typo there. I'll edit. It's meant to say "would be considered an act of murder."

However, I still consider a mercy killing such as that to be justifiable, because it puts someone out of years of misery, despite the fact that you are taking a life. The case with Schiavo dealt largely with the fact that she was essentially a vegetable, for lack of a better word. She was unable to pull the plug for herself, let alone communicate with anybody on even the most primitive of levels (blinking, moaning, etc), while showing zero signs of recovery for years. In order to give her final rest, a move HAD to be made by someone to forcibly take her life (though it's debatable if she were truly alive in the first place), because she could not herself. The act of pulling the plug and stopping the machines that allowed her to live, is an act of murder. However, in such a circumstance, I view it as justifiable because it is providing a woman with peace and ending her long suffering.

Though, each situation is just that, it's own individual happening; and what may be considered mercy for one, may not for another.

[Furore]

Wow! Well to begin with, if it is a planned and/or plotted design to destroy and end someone's life, that means it would be premeditated, therefore could not be self defense. So any post claiming self defense or protecting a family member, etc. is blown out of the water.

Not really I don't think. I mean premeditation usually involves a level of planning and a deliberate purpose. People might be saying what they might see themself doing in self defense as opposed to what they've actually planned, let alone what they'd do in such a situation. There might be some premeditation involved with revenge, but I'm personally basing it more on that I'm likely to snap if I were to see someone harming or trying to kill someone I care about. That's not really premeditation, that's temporary insanity. (Ohh how I love the purple balloon elephants and bubble mice. )

Ignoring definitions completely, I see killing and murder as more or less the same thing. It has a different meaning, sure, but either way a killer/murderer has left someone dead. If you can justify killing someone, then good for you. In some circumstances I might even be likely to agree that the act might be warranted. But either way you've killed someone. They're dead.

I'm not wanting to kill anyone, but I wonder whether my mind might change given some circumstances being met. I'm not going to fight in a war or take someone's life over something stupid or an event that's just not my problem. That's just wasteful and can make the world a worse place. Not only will someone have died prematurely, but those that love that person will also be saddened and may be effected negatively if the deceased was supporting them in whatever way.

[gaara of the desert]

yea ive noticed (this includes my earlier post) thatsome people are talking about two different things murder which is planned out etc and manslaughter where you just kill them on the spot so i still think killing someone else in the name of protection of another or self defense could be punishable and in that case wrong

[shinra_32]

I don't think I would be able to commit murder. Although if someone threatened me I don't think I would think twice defending myself even if it meant killing the person. I have only been faced with this once and I didn't kill the person only hurt him really bad. I was in college and while I was walking back from a friends dorm a guy came behind me and held a knife to my throat. I turned it on him, and took him to the ground. The cops had to arrest him in the hospital. I grew up in my dads Filipino martial arts dojo and I had practiced knife fighting since I was 5. I guess he was in the wrong place at the wrong time.

[Lithium]

I am going to make this short, sweet, and to the point.

In what situtaion does a person commit murder? To regain honor, to help a friend in need, to save your own life that has ben endangered. Expanding to the criminal acts of doing it for their 15 minutes of fame, or so they can get away with something they have done, or in the minds of a psycho that has no control over the situtation. What I am trying to say is why and how it is ever considered good, you are taking a life, plain and simple. It is an act that is unforgivable, and yet some people commit it and sleep perfect at night.

Now, I would never in any of my life commit murder unto another person. It is unforgivable and it is something that is scathed in your mind, the sight you have seen, whether it be the dead body or the bloody sight of a brutal killing. It is not a right way to solve anything, it is crual. Now, I am taking a quote I heard from one of my friends and turning it into my words, (Unless they have all ready been spoken) Now the original was, "An eye for an eye eventually makes the whole world blind" now I have changed it, "A body for a body and the whole world is soon to be dead" Meaning if for any reason someone kills another and a chain of murders starts the world will die away.

Now I know this thread said "Under what circumstances would you commit murder?" But I have been stating my feelings on the subject of murder. But I supposed I should make my point of if I would or not.

Now I would never commit a murder, especially upon another human. The person on the other side of the weapon may be a different person in your eyes, but when the time comes that you decide to kill them they change and are like a family member. From what I have read and heard it is difficult to kill another human. They are not like an animal or plant, they are human. It is just demoralizing and wrong to kill another person, in and condition or situation. If I was at gun point, rather than fight back, I may just except my fate, I may not. But if I were to fight back I would not kill the person who just tried to take my life, I just would not have it in me to kill another human.

But just remember the quote "An eye for an eye eventually makes the whole world blind" now think of it in a killing example.

Now that was short, sweet, and to the point.

[Heyzeus Kreyest]

If I had to do it to keep myself from death and/or serious injury. I'm not interested in killing other people, but if I had to, I could.

I bet you expect a long response but it really is that basic for me.

[Dark Squall]

I'm aint thinking about killing someone except if he/she tried to hurt my family or already did, And that will make me a serial killer who can't be satisfied unless he see some red hot blood and a killer who wont be discovered even of Detective Conan himself tried to catch me, He wont be able to...And I'll be Chosen as the assassin of the year or even the century..etc.

As I said, hurt my family and prepare your ass to be raped

[Fate]

Oh, I can't believe how evil and corrupted our world has become! Everywhere around the world, there's murder! Not murder for protection, murder for joy! I think it's just so wrong! It sickens me...

I, in my whole lifetime, would never even dream of committing murder. If I did, I would feel guilty for the rest of my life! Killing someone means the same thing as robbing them of their future! If I did that, I just as soon feel the guilt and kill myself! The world has enough trouble as it is without me making things worse and killing other people for fun

There is only ONE reason and only ONE reason alone why I WOULD want to kill someone. That is, as Dark Squall has stated, someone is threatening the life of me or my loved ones. Then, and ONLY then, would I go against everything I believe in and kill the person. But other than that, killing people for me is most DEFINITELY not an option! It is just so wrong...

[RamesesII]

I would only kill someone in self defense if it were necessary to stop them and to protect my family once again only if necessary to stop them other wise i would just disable them etc

[Sinister]

Thought I'd bump this thread with some thoughtful points. While we had our moment toying with definitions, the fact is, that justifiable or not, murder takes place. This can be seen from a Newtonian point of view, one person accidentally killing another, A friend of the deceased blaming him, killing him and starting a chain reaction of murder and death. I almost want to resort to that phrase from Hellsing...BooHoo, People Kill People.

But I don't look at it that way. It slips into determinism and fatalism all sorts of isms that give me a rash. And really we know better than "Cause and Effect". That's so last century, really. Things arise mutually in nets of gossamer associations. They're not billiard balls that convey momentum upon one another. That's only viewed that way because linear time skews our perspective. But not to digress into physics...

My personal views have not been made totally clear in this thread. Many people may well say... "Murder!!?? That's against the law!!" But Law...law is a stupid sort of word... And indeed, it is Law that gives us a portion of our definition of murder. Law is not law... It's an objective maxim that is enforced only when it discovers a transgression. Which makes it more of a guidline than an actual law. It can't touch transgressors that it can't identify.

These vaguries that we fool ourselves with...don't you notice they all define themselves by their antithesis? What is law? Why, the opposite of lawlessness. It's downright childish. What about these definitions? Hmm? Present simulations of these crimes and watch them crumble. As Jean Baudrillard once put: Ever try to stage a fake bankrobbery? Think you could convince the police that you were faking a robbery, even if you were? So there is no difference between a fake robbery and a real one? So what about a real robbery? It just means there are no fake robberies or real robberies. They're all fake just as they're all real...same difference. What is a bank robbery? Damn definitions...

What is murder? We've already discovered the difficulty in describing that.

And I don't adhere to any law. At all. I'm totally and completely Antinomianist...as Taoists tend to be. They never held a high opinion of the law anyway. "Write down the law," They say. "And people will find away around it."

That's not to say that I feel like forcibly removing someone's life, murderously or not. But should I ever, for some horrible reason, feel that way, I wouldn't let the law stop me.

-Sin

[Megatron0000]

That really depends on your definition of murder. is it murder to kill to protect yourself, family, friends ,strangers. Like if you are in a school carrying a legal firearm and you see someone about to open fire on a crowd and you kill him first is that murder? He may not have been going to kill you but you end him. Is it murder for a soldier to kill the enemy in a war-zone? What if its a 12 year-old strapped with explosives. Let him live and kill 15 soldiers or kill him and save 15? Murder to me is killing for no good reason. And no money, power and unrighteous revenge are not good reasons. Unrighteous revenge would be like if a dude gets fired and shoots up the office. Righteous revenge is the family member who kills that duesche bag for killing their brother, sister, mother, father, son, or daughter when he went postal.

[Rowan]

The only times I would kill someone is if I had nothing to lose or was absolutley sure I could get away with it. like in previous posts, Loved ones being raped, death threats etc, its all something im sure any normal human being would consider revenge/self defence for. I dont believe that killing is wrong if someone is threatening your way of life (in extreme circumstances surrounding permanant damage to ones wellbeing or death).

[Heartless Angel]

I unlike most am not bound by any sense of morality. In my world, there is no good or bad, right or wrong descision, only correct and incorrect, intelligent and unintelligent. I require only a purpose, and a reasonable level of certainty that the benefits will outweigh any negatives. I may have no respect for law or morality, but I have plenty of respect for causality. Violating the 'laws' of society cause all sorts of unpleasant reactions, such as being arrested, imprisoned, possibly executed, none of which are things I'd be particularly fond of.

Now for all practical purposes, this means there are virtually no situations in which I would commit murder, since counting on getting away with it with modern technology is an idiot's gamble. But, hypothetically speaking, to commit murder I would need... Something to gain from a person's death. This could be any number of things, money, satisfaction, revenge, use your imagination, people don't just break laws for something to do, there's something in it for them. I also wouldn't kill just for a change of pace, there'd have to be something of value for me to gain.

A damned good plan. To ensure the bennefits outweigh the negatives, the negatives would have to be relatively small. Guilt I can live with, somebody knowing what I did (as long as they couldn't prove it in court) and hating me forever, I could live with. There are all kinds of concievable minor consequences I could live with. Spending the rest of my life in prison or in an electric chair aren't among them. I'd need to have an almost airtight plan to ensure I'm not going to be punished by law, otherwise there aren't any benefits that could possibly outweight the risks in my eyes.

Certainty that the act would never come back to bite me. This for the most part ties in with the above, but more taking into account the non legal ramifications, like is somebody going to come kill me for revenge? If so, the losses definitely outweigh the gains, nothing's worth dying for. Killing for, sure; dying for, never.

Yes, I am a sociopath, so if you think I'm a horrible person for thinking this way, you're completely justified.

[FeyLenne13]

Mess with me that's fine, mess with my family or my friends and I will see you in Hell. I could kill someone if the threat was great. I will always protect my family and my friends before I protect myself. I think I have it in me to kill someone who would or had kill/ed someone I cared about and be able to come to terms with it later. Animals are a different story however. In the instant of the black widow spider earlier, sadly I'd kill it regardless for preventative purposes. If it had already bitten the baby, it would very easily bit someone else. If it hadn't bitten the baby, it would. It's its nature and that should be respected. People have the ability to chose, no matter what. If they commit themselves to kill someone I love, i will commit myself to stop them or stop them from doing it again.