Murder for hire : examination of expressive and instrumental motives

Multiple participant homicides, in particular murder-for-hires, have been neglected in the research field for years. Although recent research in the Tennessee Murder-For-Hire Project has tried to correct this problem, it has also raised many other questions pertinent to multiple participant homicides. The classification of most homicides by motivation as either expressive or instrumental is too simplistic for the murder-for-hire event. The presence of three relationships, i.e. solicitor/hitman, hitman/target, and solicitor/target, complicates the categorization of these events.

When looking at the solicitor/target relationship it is evident that there is a great deal of expressiveness involved. However, when looking at the event as a whole with all three relationships considered, the motivation is not as obvious. Focusing on particular variables such as age, sex, race, education, event outcome, and priors shows various outcomes within the three relationships when looking at motivation. What may be a way of categorizing one-on-one homicides is not applicable for multiple participant homicides such as the murder-for-hire event. The importance of the categorization lies not in the event itself but in the relationships within the event.