Consensual homicide refers to a case when one person kills another, with the
consent
Consent occurs when one person voluntarily agrees to the proposal or desires of another. It is a term of common speech, with specific definitions used in such fields as the law, medicine, research, and sexual consent. Consent as understood i ...
of the person being killed.
Assisted suicide
The most common form of consensual homicide is
assisted suicide
Assisted suicide, sometimes restricted to the context of physician-assisted suicide (PAS), is the process by which a person, with the help of others, takes actions to end their life.
Once it is determined that the person's situation qualifie ...
, most commonly as
euthanasia
Euthanasia (from : + ) is the practice of intentionally ending life to eliminate pain and suffering.
Different countries have different Legality of euthanasia, euthanasia laws. The British House of Lords Select committee (United Kingdom), se ...
, in which
terminally ill people seek assistance from their physicians (or family members) to alleviate their suffering by ending their lives. This practice is legal in
some jurisdictions, but remains controversial because of the legal,
ethical
Ethics is the philosophical study of moral phenomena. Also called moral philosophy, it investigates normative questions about what people ought to do or which behavior is morally right. Its main branches include normative ethics, applied e ...
and practical issues it raises.
Exceptional cases
Suspected serial killer
John Bodkin Adams claimed that his patient
Edith Alice Morrell—for whose murder he was tried in 1957—had wanted to die. He was controversially found not guilty, but was later suspected of having murdered up to 163 of his patients.
In 1996 a
Maryland
Maryland ( ) is a U.S. state, state in the Mid-Atlantic (United States), Mid-Atlantic region of the United States. It borders the states of Virginia to its south, West Virginia to its west, Pennsylvania to its north, and Delaware to its east ...
entrepreneur named
Sharon Lopatka
Sharon ( 'plain'), also spelled Saron, is a given name as well as a Hebrew name.
In English-speaking areas, Sharon is now predominantly a feminine given name, but historically it was also used as a masculine given name. In Israel, it is used a ...
arranged for her own torture and
strangulation
Strangling or strangulation is compression of the neck that may lead to unconsciousness or death by causing an increasingly hypoxic state in the brain by restricting the flow of oxygen through the trachea. Fatal strangulation typically occurs ...
over the Internet.
In 2001,
Armin Meiwes, a citizen of
Rotenburg, Germany, murdered and
cannibalized Bernd Brandes, a willing victim whom he had met via the Internet. These two cases attracted considerable attention from the German media: beyond their lurid sexual details, both cases became known for the unique legal challenges presented, including difficulties determining the
parties
A party is a gathering of people who have been invited by a host for the purposes of socializing, conversation, recreation, or as part of a festival or other commemoration or celebration of a special occasion. A party will often feature ...
, the fact that the victims had given consent to their own deaths, and the difference between consensual homicide and suicide.
In 2005, in Japan,
Hiroshi Maeue lured three persons using the Internet, with promises to assist in their suicides, and strangled them. They may have consented to their killings at first, but the method was different from his promise of death by carbon monoxide poisoning. Maeue had previous convictions and his motivation was clearly sexual. He was regarded as a serial killer and was sentenced to death.
Other types
* , the traditional Japanese method of ritual suicide, was, in many cases, carried out as consensual homicide. After the samurai slices into his own stomach with a sword, his assistant, the , is tasked with immediately carrying out a
mercy kill—typically by
beheading—as, without the assistant's presence, the process would be extremely painful and drawn out. In later times, forced was effectively used as a method of execution.
See also
*
Sadomasochism
Sadism () and masochism (), known collectively as sadomasochism ( ) or S&M, is the derivation of pleasure from acts of respectively inflicting or receiving pain or humiliation. The term is named after the Marquis de Sade, a French author known ...
*
Snuff film
*
Suicide by cop
Suicide by cop (SbC), also known as suicide by police or law-enforcement-assisted suicide, is a suicide method in which a suicidal individual deliberately behaves in a threatening manner with intent to provoke a lethal response from a public sa ...
References
{{DEFAULTSORT:Consensual Homicide
Homicide
Assisted suicide methods
Killings by type