ABSTRACT
Of the 424 male–male murders in the Murder Study, 81 (19%) were related to money or financial gain. Using the quantitative evidence, we begin by characterizing the main patterns of Money Murders including: background, relationships, conflicts/disputes, drinking/drugs, murder event, cause of death, and other offenses. Using the qualitative evidence, we identified seven subtypes of money murders: 1) thefts, burglary and robbery; 2) drug dealing disputes; 3) criminal activity, share-outs; 4) informal personal debt; 5) gangs, conflict over territory and resources; 6) unlawful activity, disputes with officials; 7) contract to kill. The narrative accounts illustrate the diversity and dynamic nature of these murders including theft, burglary, drug dealing, disputes over ‘share-outs,’ personal debt, and disputes with government officials over unlawful activity; and contracts to kill.
Each subtype of Money.Murders is compared the Other.Murders not of that type. These comparisons reveal some distinct characteristics of the subtypes including levels of drunkenness, intention to kill, anger and rage, location of the murder, and committing another crime during the murder. In all, the analysis confirms the importance of disaggregating murders into subtypes in order to enhance the understanding of these murder.
