The Illustrated Guide to Criminal Law
Chapter 7: Axes of Evil
Page 9: Sadistic
Take two intentional murderers.
Man swinging a cast iron skillet like a tennis racket
One, a husband fed up with his wife’s cooking, kills her with a single blow.
Average Joe grinning wide-eyed while stabbing with an ice pick in a spray of blood
The second, a sadistic psychopath, kills a young woman
…horrifically.
Lady Justice gesturing a slash across her throat with a finger
Each one committed the same crime, with the same mens rea, and each is equally responsible.
But Lady Justice here wants the State to punish the sadistic killer far worse.
Why?
You can’t actually be a sadistic psychopath. The two conditions are mutually exlusive