Mismanaged anger plus gun access, not death penalty threat, drives most homicides

Evidence

Mismanaged conflicts often escalate to higher levels of aggression that ultimately culminates in physical violence (Toch, 1992). Emotion overwhelms any forethought of the consequences of what one is doing at the moment. The combination of low self-efficacy in managing stormy clashes and a gun can be lethal. In these charged encounters, armed assailants react impulsively, rather than thinking about the death chambers. A good number of homicides occur in the context of arguments between individuals in close relationships, for example, in domestic violence, in jealousies and disputes in other stormy relationships, and in conflicts with associates and acquaintances. When we consider the circumstances under which many homicides occur, it is not surprising that the prospect of the death penalty does not arise. — Albert Bandura, Moral Disengagement, 1956

Categorization

• XREF: Connects to the vault’s interest in mechanisms that let people rationalize harmful action - here, impulsive affect-driven violence that bypasses moral self-sanction without any disengagement at all.
• corroborated: 2 independent passages support this claim — Albert Bandura, Moral Disengagement: How People Do Harm…, 1956