Would you seek revenge for the brutal murder of a loved one?

I don't really know what or how. Torture for the sake of teaching them a lesson doesn't make much sense.

I wouldn't be willing to ask for the death penalty even if they were convicted, so I certainly wouldn't be willing to ask for that on my own. That means there's a pretty wide range of revenge options which match my survey responses, and I don't know what I would do. I'd start with a civil case (and a restraining order), though.

Yes, yes, and yes...

I have a friend who was raped just a couple of months ago by a friend of her best friend. He was released of his own recognisance or some b/s like that until the trial. I feel I have to leave my hometown because they will keep him loose and if I see him he will die. We have a small arsenol in the basement because my dad's a gunsmith. If he had murdered her I would kill him in the same way he killed her (bill: perfect!!)....however for rape maybe just a quick bullet castration before I finish him off.

Keeping in mind that if i killed him/her, or had him/her killed, that would be it for him...he couldn't be bothered by anything anymore. The only effect that would have would be to devastate his loved ones (even the most despicable of us is someone's child, sibling or parent). I would rather have him/her in a position where i could make him suffer the way he/she made my loved one suffer. I would get the details of the crime, secure him/her in my basement or wherever, and proceed to do the same to him but would stop soon enough so that he/she wouldn't die. When he/she was healed enough, I'd do it again...and so on.
In reality I would try to get the case reopened on the grounds of new evidence but to keep me sane in the mean time I would have my fantasy.

If I were 100% absolutely sure they had done it, I would kill the person. Yes, I would be willing to do it myself. How would I do it? probably a bullet to the head. *emily: killing the person would have the effect of stopping them from ever murdering anyone again...and not everyone has a living relative, let alone one who cares about them.

long painful torture first. distant psychological torture for many years so it would be less and less likely to be believed to be me. spend my time aquiring a propoerty sufficeintly remote on which to mete out the torture. no it isn't justice, it would just be satisfying. there is no justice in any death. I'd hate myself afterwards, but can picture it happening far too clearly.

For me I would seek revenge, I will send them to their death, but I wouldn't do it myself, unless I had to. I would plan a very clever way to kill him and make sure he knows why he/she is dying, and get someone else to do it so I would never risk a criminal charge (which would be so sadly ironic if I did get sent to jail for murder). I think torture and hurting his/her family are not the way, I think a painful death is well deserved but sick stuff can only be performed by a sick mind, or in this case a hurt mind. By hurting their family or loved ones you are hurting innocent people and you are just as mean, however justified you may feel. A well crafted revenge is sweeter and more fulfilling then an anger based frenzy of hate, blood, and frustration. Why subject yourself to more horror? Let the pros do it, or the good-'ole-boys in town do it- hushed up and mob style.

If the accused was acquitted, I might not be happy about it but I wouldn't take matters into my own hands. If I KNEW this person was a murder, then I must have SEEN the murder with my own eyes and I would have testified so I assume there would have been a conviction. I can't think about any other possibility.

If I were 100% sure that I knew who the killer was (ie, if I'd witnessed it myself and they got off anyway) I'd have no problem ending that person's life by my own hand. While I might take steps to avoid being caught, I'd accept the consequences of doing so.

I am very vengeful. I not only would dispatch them to their 'reward,' I wouldn't care what happened to me after that. They wouldn't even have to murder someone I loved very much. If they did something deliberately to permanently injure, they should be taken out. If it was an accident, I would try to forgive & forget. (Driving while under the influence is deliberate as far as I'm concerned.)

I would only kill the person if that were more painful than anything else I could come up with at the time.

I really can't imagine. If I thought it would make me feel any better, I'd probably try to get revenge somehow, but that wouldn't bring my friend back, anyway.

I just can't answer this. I don't know. I've sat here for a while trying to imagine myself in a situation like this and I can't. With any luck at all, I will never have to find out. Certainly I can understand the impulse for revenge and might be sympathetic to someone who took it, but I'd have to be in the situation to know what I would do.

I don't think I could actually *kill* the person, but I could do my best to make their life unpleasant, continue to do research to prove his/her guilt, etc.

an eye for an eye
* Honestly, that's probably bullcrap. I think I would eventually focus on forgiving the person and moving on with my life. I'm sure I would fantasize about killing them, but I can't imagine myself going through with it.

Unfortunately, the question is too vague. I didn't pick anything. how close did I know the murderer? why was the murder committed? how was the murder committed(meaning brutal how)? also by 'knowing' it, I have conclusive proof, then again, if I have conclusive proof, then it should be used in the trial. if by 'knowing' who did it, I am fairly certain, then I definitely wouldn't do anything, because I don't know, I just have a feeling. if it were a case where I had the proof, the proof was thrown out or ignored, and the person wasn't in police custody, the police would be searching in vain for a second murderer... killing someone is pretty simple. doing it and not getting caught is the difficult part.

I put "yes" for all 3, but i'm not certain that I could do it myself. I think I would want to, but whether or not I could actually do it, I'm not sure.

Ugh. Ugh, ugh, ugh. Hard to answer. I'm assuming that I saw it happen but other people don't believe me, or some other incontrovertible (to me) evidence that is not legally sufficient.
My first answer was N,N,N, with the note that I would berate myself until my dying day for not having taken revenge, but that I would probably stop myself from actually doing it for various moral reasons.
My second thought was that if "not carrying it out myself" could be construed to include, say, trying to get the bastard convicted for other crimes s/he committed, then I might do that, even if it led to their being given the death penalty... but it wouldn't be revenge... which led to N, N, Y.
My third thought was that if I did that, I'd be motivated by revenge, no matter how just the outcome was. So Y, N, Y.
Good question.

I don't think it would be my place to seek revenge. Or maybe I'm just too chickencrap. Obviously, I can't guarantee that I'd feel the same way if it actually happened.

The easiest way for me.

Death is too easy..

Kill my child, or wife, and in decreasing order, any member of my family, and you will suffer. If some technicality gets you off, you'd better look over your shoulder, pal, because I'll get you. I don't care when, or how, but you're dead. I'd plan it well, of course, so I wouldn't be convicted. (Damn! Now if I ever DO this, someone can look back at this survey and use it as evidence that I'd PLANNED it!)

(I just read some of the other responses, and realize that mine was tame in comparison!)

I'd forgotten the torture part. I like that. I'd sequester the guy someplace safe and make it my hobby to make him suffer!

Jeez, we're evil here, aren't we?

Wow, you guys are scaring me. Don't you think a more healthy attitude would be to try to put it all behind you and get on with your life? I think all these methods of revenge will just do more harm than good. What do you think your loved one would want you to do?

It would have to be something subtle that wouldn't get me caught. Push them off a cliff or tall building or something like that.

Yes, I would get revenge. Yes, I will do it myself. Yes, they will be dead. No question about it. I am partial to the thought of shooting someone with a shotgun, several times. ***Jonas: you are right, putting it all behind you would be the healthy thing to do. Most people, however, do not act in a fashion that is healthy to themselves or others.

Let's assume it was an adult (I have mixed feelings on kids) who saw my son in a park, dragged him off and mutilated him in a slow death. If they had a video of him taking my son out of the park, or some other "real proof" that it was him, then yup. I've got a number of rifles and would quite happily track him down and show him some justice. I wouldn't feel right about getting someone else to do it. It was my son, and I am the person who has the "right" I suppose to get him back for it.

I think hiring someone else makes it too much of a detached process. You are about to cause someone else to die. Take some responsibility! None of this "eeek I don't want to be caught" mentality! Nor the "I gave someone the cash, so now I am revenged on the killer of my child". If you are making the decision to cause the death of another human, you should be there pulling the trigger. Otherwise how is this really better than saying, "I know OJ's guilty, let's send $10k to a hit man". It's not taking the whole situation seriously.

Note my feelings are much different if someone ran him down by accident on the road or something. This would only be for an adult commiting a truly heinous, deliberate crime.

jjg/jonas: There is also the argument that you know there is a killer out there, and you have a responsibility to prevent him from killing again. If someone mutilated and killed my child, was set free, and then continued to kill and mutilate other children, I would never be able to face their parents, knowing that I had the opportunity to cause this to stop.

It's quite possible that my answers would change were the question to become non-hypothetical. However, in the past I have always reacted more strongly to threats & injuries to my loved ones than to threats & injuries to myself... It is quite interesting how primal the responses to this question are -- it really plugs right in to the hindbrain.

i have no idea what i would do.

But only if justice fails...

Note: Yes, death its easy, but it's definitive. And my main goal for revenge is to "eliminate" the posibiliy to see this person again.

Firstly, it I could prove it was a particular person, surely the judge would too. But say I saw him do it and the judge ignored it, I would seek revenge. I would get someone else to do it. I'd make him/her suffer for hours and hours whilst I was watching. It may seem really sick but it would make me feel a lot better