Crime without Punishment

Explores different examples of unpunished homicides and what these tell us about the interaction of law and society.

A compelling investigation of historically unpunished murders by a respected legal theorist. Lawrence M. Friedman compares different examples of unpunished homicides including early vigilante justice, crimes of passion and mercy killings, and argues that the basis of these 'crimes without punishment' are conflicts in social and cultural norms.In this compelling book, Lawrence M. Friedman looks at situations where killing is condemned by law but not by social norms and, therefore, is rarely punished. He shows how penal codes categorize homicides by degree of intent, which are in turn based on society's sense of moral outrage. Despite being officially defined as murder, many homicides have historically gone unpunished. Friedman looks at early vigilante justice, crimes of passion, murder of necessity, mercy killings, and assisted suicides. In his explorations of these unpunished homicides, Friedman probes what these circumstances tell us about conflicts in social and cultural norms, and the interaction of law and society.