Editing Contract killing

{{Short description|Form of murder}}
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[[File:Jean Louis Ernest Meissonier (1815-1891) - The Hired Assassins (Les Bravi) - P327 - The Wallace Collection.jpg|thumb|''The Hired Assassins'' ([[Ernest Meissonier]], 1852)]]

'''Contract killing''' (also known as '''murder-for-hire''') is a form of [[murder]] or [[assassination]] in which one party hires another party to kill a targeted person or people.<ref name="ShantyMishra2008">{{cite book|author1=Frank Shanty|author2=Patit Paban Mishra|title=Organized Crime: From Trafficking to Terrorism|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=-L8B8ydtHZ4C&pg=PA210|year=2008|publisher=ABC-CLIO|isbn=978-1-57607-337-7|page=210}}</ref> It involves an agreement which includes some form of compensation, monetary or otherwise. Either party may be a person, group, or organization. Contract killing has been associated with [[organized crime]], [[Conspiracy theory|government conspiracies]], [[dictatorship]]s and [[feud|vendetta]]s.

Contract killing provides the hiring party with the advantage of not having to carry out the actual killing, making it more difficult for [[law enforcement]] to connect the client with the murder. The likelihood that authorities will establish that party's guilt for the committed crime, especially due to lack of [[forensic evidence]] linked to the contracting party, makes the case more difficult to attribute to the hiring party. Contract killers may exhibit [[serial killer]] traits, but are generally not classified as such because of third-party killing objectives and detached financial and emotional incentives.<ref name="Madjd-Sadjadi2013">{{cite book|author=Zagros Madjd-Sadjadi|title=The Economics of Crime|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=Dd7XAQAAQBAJ&pg=PT162|year=2013|publisher=Business Expert Press|isbn=978-1-60649-583-4|page=162}}</ref>{{sfn|Holmes|Holmes|2009|p=7}}<ref name="WilsonYardley2015">{{cite book|author1=David Wilson|author2=Elizabeth Yardley|author3=Adam Lynes|title=Serial Killers and the Phenomenon of Serial Murder: A Student Textbook|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=iXg7CgAAQBAJ&pg=PA43|year=2015|publisher=Waterside Press - Drew University|isbn=978-1-909976-21-4|page=43}}</ref> Nevertheless, there are occasionally individuals that are labelled as both contract killers and serial killers.<ref name="WilsonYardley2015" /><ref>{{cite book|author1=R.J. Parker|author2=Scott Bonn|title=Blood Money: The Method and Madness of Assassins|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=Ib4pDwAAQBAJ&pg=PA9|year=2017|publisher=ABC-CLIO|isbn=978-1-987902-34-1|pages=9–10}}</ref><ref name="HolmesHolmes2009">{{cite book|first1=Ronald M. |last1=Holmes|first2=Stephen T. |last2=Holmes|title=Serial Murder|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=ol24tui7vo8C&pg=PA140|year=2009|publisher=SAGE|isbn=978-1-4129-7442-4|page=140}}</ref>

A contract killer is colloquially known as a '''hitman'''.<ref>{{cite web | url=https://www.britannica.com/dictionary/hit-man | title=Hit man Definition & Meaning &#124; Britannica Dictionary }}</ref>

==Statistics==
Contract killings generally make up a small percentage of murders. For example, they accounted for about 6% of all murders in [[Crime in Scotland|Scotland]] from 1993 to 2002.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.scotland.gov.uk/Publications/2003/11/18570/29572|title=Homicide in Scotland, 2002|publisher=Government of Scotland}}</ref>

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 [[life insurance|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.<ref name="lovers">{{cite news |url=http://www.cnn.com/2004/WORLD/asiapcf/02/05/australia.killings.offbeat.reut/index.html|title=Lovers top contract killing hit list |date=February 5, 2004|publisher=CNN}}</ref>

==Notable persons==
*[[List of contract killers and hitmen]]

== See also ==
<!-- PLEASE RESPECT ALPHABETICAL ORDER -->
*[[Assassination market]]
*[[Bounty hunter]]
*[[Cleaner (crime)]]
*[[Mercenary]]
*''[[Nothing Personal (TV series)|Nothing Personal]]'' 
*[[RentAHitman.com]] 
*[[Wetwork]]

== References ==
{{Reflist}}

==External links==
*[https://www.fbi.gov/news/stories/2013/january/murder-for-hire/murder-for-hire Murder-for-Hire: Web Hits of a Deadly Kind] ([[Federal Bureau of Investigation|FBI]])

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{{DEFAULTSORT:Contract Killing}}
[[Category:Assassins|*]]
[[Category:Speech crimes]]
[[Category:Killings by type]]
[[Category:Contract killers| ]]
[[Category:Illegal occupations]]
[[Category:Temporary employment]]
[[Category:Gangland warfare tactics]]
[[Category:Organized crime activity]]
[[Category:Murder]]