Contract killing

"Hitman" and "Sicarios" redirect here. For other uses, see Hitman (disambiguation) and Sicario (disambiguation).

"Hit lady" and "Contract killers" redirect here. For the films, see Hit Lady and Contract Killers.

Contract killing, also known as murder-for-hire, is a form of murder or assassination in which one party employs another party to extrajudicially kill a targeted person or people^[1] via an illegal agreement that involves some form of compensation, monetary or otherwise.^[2] An act of contract killing is also known colloquially as a hit, and the person performing the killing (i.e. the contract killer or "contractor") is known as the hitman^[3] or (as borrowed from Spanish) sicario.

The Hired Assassins (Ernest Meissonier, 1852)

Organized crime gangs and syndicates sometimes employ dedicated members or associates as contractors (each known as an enforcer) to perform targeted assassination, lynching, maiming or other acts of violence, typically for purposes such as turf war, feud, extortion or as a form of political violence to terrorize dissidents or to demoralize other groups.

Statistics

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.^[4]

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.^[5]

Contract killers may share similarities with serial killers, such as detached financial and emotional incentives, but are not classified as such due to the differing objectives of their crimes.^[6][7][8] Nevertheless, there are occasionally individuals that are labelled as both contract killers and serial killers.^[8][9][10]

See also

• Assassination market
• Cleaner (crime)
• List of contract killers and hitmen
• Mercenary
• Nothing Personal
• RentAHitman.com
• Wetwork