Homicide violates a serious norm that is sanctioned with prison sentences, assignment help
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Homicide violates a serious norm that is sanctioned with prison sentences and under some circumstances, with the death of the assailant. People who kill in a hot-blooded burst of passion can draw some comfort from the law, which provides lighter punishments for killings performed without premeditation or intent. But what about someone who kills repeatedly and intentionally, aware that these acts of homicide are unlawful?
Ken Levi interviewed, over a four-month period, a self-styled “hit man” (referred to as “Pete from Detroit”) who was serving a prison sentence. Being a hit man might seem to be a life without responsibility to society’s norms. But Pete emphasizes that he is strictly governed by a contract, and failure to fulfill it carries severe penalties.
Pete and other hit men insist on big money because they know that less “professional” hired killers (such as drug addicts) who offer to work for low fees often receive a bullet for their pains. It is believed that people who would kill for so little would also require little persuasion to make them talk to the police. Therefore, his and other hit men’s reputation for charging high fees is functional; it helps them to carry out their tasks successfully and, not incidentally, to remain alive.
Homicide is one of society’s norms. Pete knows that, but he accommodates this potentially discrediting feature of his life by emphasizing the new norms he must obey. Therefore he considers himself “law abiding,” even if the laws are not those of the larger society. Similarly, he approaches the hit as “just a job,” and thus goes as far as he can in denying his norm violation
Discuss your reaction to Pete from Detroit’s statements that it is “just a job” and that he is not violating a social norm with 200 words.
