3 ms·

> This is a concern to me because it doesn't make sense to me that somebody who tries to kill somebody but does a poor job of it should be punished less harshly

> This is a concern to me because it doesn't make sense to me that somebody who tries to kill somebody but does a poor job of it should be punished less harshly than somebody who tries to kill somebody and manages to pull it off. Your friend calls you. The police have discovered you tried to hire a hitman to kill your wife. You despair, but then realize you won't get punished any worse for killing her before they show up...

jlgreco 13y ago
Is hiring a hitman who successfully kills somebody the same crime as successfully killing somebody yourself? I understand not increasing the punishment of certain types of crimes so that we don't create incentives to escalate (for example, don't give the death penalty for armed robberies, because then all armed robberies would turn into murders as well), but in the case of attempted murder, the person doing it has already committed themselves to killing somebody. There aren't really many ways that can escalate. If they tried to kill somebody, realized that they failed, and had the opportunity to try again, I don't think there is much incentive currently for them to not try again.
- dragonwriter 13y ago
  > Is hiring a hitman who successfully kills somebody the same crime as successfully killing somebody yourself? Yes. (Well, hiring the hitman may itself be other crimes, but once you've done it, its the same set of crimes for "hiring the hitman to kill somebody" + "hitman kills them" and "hiring the hitman to kill somebody" + "you kill them yourself". For you, at least. Less crimes for the hitman, though.)
  - jlgreco 13y ago
    Hmm, that seems strange, but on the other hand felony murder makes sense to me so I'm not sure why I should find this strange. My intuition on what punishments should be dolled out for extreme crimes is probably a little wonky.

3 ms·

> This is a concern to me because it doesn't make sense to me that somebody who tries to kill somebody but does a poor job of it should be punished less harshly

by Strilanc 13y ago

jlgreco 13y ago
Is hiring a hitman who successfully kills somebody the same crime as successfully killing somebody yourself? I understand not increasing the punishment of certain types of crimes so that we don't create incentives to escalate (for example, don't give the death penalty for armed robberies, because then all armed robberies would turn into murders as well), but in the case of attempted murder, the person doing it has already committed themselves to killing somebody. There aren't really many ways that can escalate. If they tried to kill somebody, realized that they failed, and had the opportunity to try again, I don't think there is much incentive currently for them to not try again.
- dragonwriter 13y ago
  > Is hiring a hitman who successfully kills somebody the same crime as successfully killing somebody yourself? Yes. (Well, hiring the hitman may itself be other crimes, but once you've done it, its the same set of crimes for "hiring the hitman to kill somebody" + "hitman kills them" and "hiring the hitman to kill somebody" + "you kill them yourself". For you, at least. Less crimes for the hitman, though.)
  - jlgreco 13y ago
    Hmm, that seems strange, but on the other hand felony murder makes sense to me so I'm not sure why I should find this strange. My intuition on what punishments should be dolled out for extreme crimes is probably a little wonky.