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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">Template:Cite book</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, government conspiracies, dictatorships and vendettas.
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">Template:Cite book</ref>Template:Sfn<ref name="WilsonYardley2015">Template:Cite book</ref> Nevertheless, there are occasionally individuals that are labelled as both contract killers and serial killers.<ref name="WilsonYardley2015" /><ref>Template:Cite book</ref><ref name="HolmesHolmes2009">Template:Cite book</ref>
A contract killer is colloquially known as a hitman.<ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref>
StatisticsEdit
Contract killings generally make up a small percentage of murders. For example, they accounted for about 6% of all murders in Scotland from 1993 to 2002.<ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</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 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">Template:Cite news</ref>
Notable personsEdit
See alsoEdit
- Assassination market
- Bounty hunter
- Cleaner (crime)
- Mercenary
- Nothing Personal
- RentAHitman.com
- Wetwork