ABSTRACT
Fourteen of the seventeen lifers I interviewed committed murder or attempted murder. (Three appear to be innocent.20) Murder is a horrific event that frightens and revolts most people and incites their desire for revenge. However, the public’s fear of and vindictiveness toward this crime is largely related to the type of homicides that receive excessive attention in the news media, such as those committed by Richard Allen Davis (the killer of Polly Klaas), the Zodiac Killer, and Richard Ramirez (the “Night Stalker”) or the massacre of schoolmates at Columbine or Virginia Tech. The popular ideas regarding homicides and the motives of offenders that have been shaped by the media or “tough on crime” advocates are mistaken or distorted. For example, one usually reads that a homicide that occurred during an armed robbery was “an execution style murder.” There certainly have been homicides that appear to be executions, but these are atypical. In my lengthy experience with the phenomenon, I have found that the vast majority of robbery/homicides are the result of robberies gone astray. Most homicides are, though tragic and blameworthy, much more ordinary and understandable. They are “typical” homicides.
