Investment crook Bernie Madoff probably thought he'd committed the perfect crime. He was rich, well-known, loved by his family and respected by his colleagues. But Ponzi schemes are not perfect crimes, and Bernie got caught. The financial sociopath lost his fortune, his reputation, his freedom and a son to suicide. His wife, the author of a boo-hoo memoir and his surviving son disowned him. And like a true sociopath Bernie insulted his victims by calling them greedy.
Unlike Bernie Madoff, a lot of people get away with crimes big and small. Shoplifters, employee thieves and even murderers have avoided conviction. But getting away with a criminal act doesn't necessarily make it a perfect crime. Offenders escape criminal detection and punishment because their crimes weren't professionally investigated. So-called perfect crimes are made possible by imperfect police work, and good luck.
To avoid a murder conviction the killer should make sure he doesn't leave part of himself at the scene of the homicide or take part of the death site with him. Ideally, the murder victim should not be a spouse, an ex-lover, a business competitor or someone to whom the killer owes money. Moreover, the homicide should be committed as far from the killer's home as possible. And there should be no eyewitnesses or accomplices. The successful murderer should create a believable alibi and not tell a soul what he has done, not even a priest or a shrink. And if there is financial gain involved the killer should avoid spending large sums of money for at least a year.
If arrested and brought into the interrogation room the suspect should say nothing except that he wants a lawyer. Also, no self-respecting criminal agrees to a polygraph test. If incarcerated the suspect should be aware of the jailhouse informant. Successful criminals trust no one and keep their mouths shut.
Killers get away with murder all the time because police officers contaminate physical evidence at the crime scene. Too many detectives are overworked, lazy or incompetent. O. J. Simpson committed an imperfect, messy, clue-laden double murder and walked free. Police mistakes, a whacko jury and an all-star defense team led to the acquittal of an obviously guilty man.
The commission of a perfect perfect murder should entail the following:
1. The coroner or medical examiner rules the death either natural, accidental or suicidal.
2. The killer does not come under serious police or media suspicion.
3. The killer gains something significant from the victim's death.
4. There is no physical evidence such as DNA that will later come back to haunt the killer.
Before the emergence of modern toxicology and pharmacology, at a time when unhappy wives could slowly poisoned their husbands to death (usually with arsenic found in rat poison), the perfect murder was possible--perhaps even easy. Today committing the perfect murder, at least as described here, is much more difficult and extremely rare.
Unlike Bernie Madoff, a lot of people get away with crimes big and small. Shoplifters, employee thieves and even murderers have avoided conviction. But getting away with a criminal act doesn't necessarily make it a perfect crime. Offenders escape criminal detection and punishment because their crimes weren't professionally investigated. So-called perfect crimes are made possible by imperfect police work, and good luck.
To avoid a murder conviction the killer should make sure he doesn't leave part of himself at the scene of the homicide or take part of the death site with him. Ideally, the murder victim should not be a spouse, an ex-lover, a business competitor or someone to whom the killer owes money. Moreover, the homicide should be committed as far from the killer's home as possible. And there should be no eyewitnesses or accomplices. The successful murderer should create a believable alibi and not tell a soul what he has done, not even a priest or a shrink. And if there is financial gain involved the killer should avoid spending large sums of money for at least a year.
If arrested and brought into the interrogation room the suspect should say nothing except that he wants a lawyer. Also, no self-respecting criminal agrees to a polygraph test. If incarcerated the suspect should be aware of the jailhouse informant. Successful criminals trust no one and keep their mouths shut.
Killers get away with murder all the time because police officers contaminate physical evidence at the crime scene. Too many detectives are overworked, lazy or incompetent. O. J. Simpson committed an imperfect, messy, clue-laden double murder and walked free. Police mistakes, a whacko jury and an all-star defense team led to the acquittal of an obviously guilty man.
The commission of a perfect perfect murder should entail the following:
1. The coroner or medical examiner rules the death either natural, accidental or suicidal.
2. The killer does not come under serious police or media suspicion.
3. The killer gains something significant from the victim's death.
4. There is no physical evidence such as DNA that will later come back to haunt the killer.
Before the emergence of modern toxicology and pharmacology, at a time when unhappy wives could slowly poisoned their husbands to death (usually with arsenic found in rat poison), the perfect murder was possible--perhaps even easy. Today committing the perfect murder, at least as described here, is much more difficult and extremely rare.
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