{{Short description|Form of murder}} {{Redirect-multi|2|Hitman|Sicarios|other uses|Hitman (disambiguation)|and|Hittman (disambiguation){{!}}Hittman|and|Sicario (disambiguation)}} {{redirect-multi|2|Hit lady|Contract killers|the films|Hit Lady|and|Contract Killers}} {{Use mdy dates|date=May 2016}} [[File:Jean Louis Ernest Meissonier (1815-1891) - The Hired Assassins (Les Bravi) - P327 - The Wallace Collection.jpg|thumb|''The Hired Assassins'' (Ernest Meissonier, 1852)]]
'''Contract killing''', sometimes 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<ref name="ShantyMishra2008">{{cite book|author1=Frank Shanty|author2=Patit Paban Mishra|title=Organized Crime: From Trafficking to Terrorism|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=-L8B8ydtHZ4C&pg=PA210|year=2008|publisher=ABC-CLIO|isbn=978-1-57607-337-7|page=210}}</ref> via an illegal agreement that involves some form of compensation, monetary or otherwise.<ref>{{cite journal | url=https://doi.org/10.1080/01639625.2020.1787763 | doi=10.1080/01639625.2020.1787763 | title=An Assessment of Hitmen and Contracted Violence Providers Operating Online | date=2022 | last1=Roddy | first1=Ariel L. | last2=Holt | first2=Thomas J. | journal=Deviant Behavior | volume=43 | issue=2 | pages=139–151 | url-access=subscription }}</ref> 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'''<ref>{{cite web | url=https://www.britannica.com/dictionary/hit-man | title=Hit man Definition & Meaning | Britannica Dictionary }}</ref> or (as borrowed from Spanish) "sicario".
==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.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.scotland.gov.uk/Publications/2003/11/18570/29572|title=Homicide in Scotland, 2002|publisher=Government of Scotland}}</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">{{cite news |url=http://www.cnn.com/2004/WORLD/asiapcf/02/05/australia.killings.offbeat.reut/index.html|title=Lovers top contract killing hit list |date=February 5, 2004|publisher=CNN}}</ref>
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.<ref name="Madjd-Sadjadi2013">{{cite book|author=Zagros Madjd-Sadjadi|title=The Economics of Crime|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=Dd7XAQAAQBAJ&pg=PT162|year=2013|publisher=Business Expert Press|isbn=978-1-60649-583-4|page=162}}</ref>{{sfn|Holmes|Holmes|2009|p=7}}<ref name="WilsonYardley2015">{{cite book|author1=David Wilson|author2=Elizabeth Yardley|author3=Adam Lynes|title=Serial Killers and the Phenomenon of Serial Murder: A Student Textbook|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=iXg7CgAAQBAJ&pg=PA43|year=2015|publisher=Waterside Press - Drew University|isbn=978-1-909976-21-4|page=43}}</ref> Nevertheless, there are occasionally individuals that are labelled as both contract killers and serial killers.<ref name="WilsonYardley2015" /><ref>{{cite book|author1=R.J. Parker|author2=Scott Bonn|title=Blood Money: The Method and Madness of Assassins|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=Ib4pDwAAQBAJ&pg=PA9|year=2017|publisher=ABC-CLIO|isbn=978-1-987902-34-1|pages=9–10}}</ref><ref name="HolmesHolmes2009">{{cite book|first1=Ronald M. |last1=Holmes|first2=Stephen T. |last2=Holmes|title=Serial Murder|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=ol24tui7vo8C&pg=PA140|year=2009|publisher=SAGE|isbn=978-1-4129-7442-4|page=140}}</ref>
== See also == {{Div col|colwidth=30em}} <!-- PLEASE RESPECT ALPHABETICAL ORDER --> *Assassination market *Cleaner (crime) *List of contract killers and hitmen *Mercenary *''Nothing Personal'' *RentAHitman.com *Wetwork {{div col end}}
== References == {{Reflist}}
==External links== *[https://www.fbi.gov/news/stories/2013/january/murder-for-hire/murder-for-hire Murder-for-Hire: Web Hits of a Deadly Kind] (FBI)
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{{DEFAULTSORT:Contract Killing}} * Category:Speech crimes Category:Killings by type Category:Contract killers Category:Criminal occupations Category:Temporary employment Category:Gangland warfare tactics Category:Organized crime activity Category:Murder