People kill other people in every known culture for all different reasons

People kill other people in every known culture for all different reasons

People kill other people in every known culture for all different reasons. It is for these reasons that there was introduced the development of etiological theories of homicide became important, considering that there was enormous harm resulting from the intentional killing of humans by other humans. Homicide Adaptation Theory was such an attempt to try to explain the reason as to why homicide occurs (Parker and McKinley, 2018). in the Homicide Adaptation theory, the proponents propose that several specific adaptations equip humans for killing that are evolved which they use to solve recurrent adaptive problems dating back from the ancestral past. The theory argues that there is a characterization of the ancestral cost and benefits of homicides which lead to the evolution of psychological adaptations for homicide. But this is quite different from arguing that humans decide whether to kill or not by actively weighing the costs and benefits of killing, especially in the present moments.

There are adaptive situations to which humans have been accustomed to for which homicide becomes a possible solution. In theory, homicide could have been a benefit to our ancestors which in turn led to the evolution of the adaptations for murder. Some of these examples include prevention of exploitation, injury, rape, or killing of self, kin mates and coalition allies by conspecifics in the present and the future (Dunkley and Buss, 2011). Another adaptation reason for homicide would be for the protection of resources, territory, shelter and food from competitors. Again, elimination of what could be termed as resource absorbing individuals who could not be genetically related to us, e.g. stepchildren (Duntley and Buss, 2011). Finally, the adaptation to do homicide on genetic relatives who pose a danger to the investment in other areas like, for instance, deformed infants, the chronically ill or the infirmed (Durrant, 2009).

In this reference, an example of the use of the homicide adaptation theory was experienced back in Ocklawaha, Florida in 2010, when Raymond Emala shot Todd Edward Fryer who died as a result of gunshot wounds. Fryer had issues with his mom, who called a friend to come to settle down the issues over an argument that had risen between Fryer and his mother, in the presence of his girlfriend. The situation got out of control and police were called whereby Fryer’s girlfriend was arrested on battery charges.  The arrest of his girlfriend aggravated Fryer who continued to cause a problem with his mother, who in turn called another friend, Raymond Emala, who came with his 8- year old daughter in the car. When Fryer saw the car coming, he approached it aggressively, and since Email was physically challenged, he could not get out of his car and defend himself and his daughter. By instincts, he pulled a gun intending to scare Fryer away. On the contrary, Fryer lunged for the gun, causing it to discharge into the windshield, with Emala’s daughter still in the car.

Fryer began beating up Emala and smashing him through the window, and Emala shot him twice. Later, Fryer died of gunshot wounds, and the state attorney ruled the shooting as a justifiable homicide since Emala had a justifiable fear for his life and the life of his daughter, who was in the car with him. It is therefore evident that Emala acted out of instinct to save himself and his daughter from an aggravated Fryer who was behaving like a beast. In this context, it would justify stating that Emala used the homicide adaptation theory to do as stated earlier in the essay on the homicide adaptation.  In this category, include prevention of exploitation, injury, rape, or killing of self, kin mates and coalition allies by conspecifics in the present and the future. By default, an angry man is equally dangerous as a beast, and an angered person is prone to do anything to save a life (Duntley and Buss, 2011). It is for this reason that the state ruled in favour of Emala.

References

(2020). Retrieved 10 November 2020, from https://www.ocala.com/article/LK/20110215/News/604195355/OS

Duntley, J. D., & Buss, D. M. (2011). Homicide adaptations. Aggression and Violent Behavior, 16(5), 399-410.

Durrant, R. (2009). Born to kill? A critical evaluation of homicide adaptation theory. Aggression and Violent Behavior, 14(5), 374-381.

Parker, B. L., & McKinley, A. C. (2018). Homicide event motive: A situational perspective. Salus Journal, 6(2), 78.