To describe a contemptible person as a pig or a filthy animal is a cruel insult to pigs and other such animals. Pigs and other such animals are nice creatures with no malice in their veins. Human beings on the other hand can be more evil than the depths of hell. Therefore we should pay animals more respect and stop insulting them as if they are of the same stock as wicked humans. Wicked humans exist in abundance, and often we hear people say that murderers and rapists are the most foul of all rotten people, but if one looks a little closer one might see that this is not always the case. It’s not always the case because many murderers and rapists are in fact humane beings.

It may seem bold to suggest that murderers can be good people. It is counterintuitive because murder is considered to be the most evil sin of man. Yet it is improper to assume the totality of a man’s worth based on one brief moment of his life; this is an important clause because murder often happens in a moment of madness without premeditation. Furthermore without disputing the fact that some unplanned killings do stink of evil people, there are too cases that seem to feature convicts of a less sinister deportment.

Take for example the Irish murder case of Yusif Ali Abdi ( https://www.irishtimes.com/news/crime-and-law/courts/criminal-court/wife-of-man-accused-of-murdering-infant-son-says-way-husband-treated-is-beyond-cruel-1.4111455 ). Yusif Ali Abdi is a Somalian man that was convicted of murdering his son in 2003. His conviction was quashed after he was declared legally insane in 2019, thenceforth it became accepted that his mishap was triggered by a schizophrenic episode. Suffering from paranoid schizophrenia, Abdi bore the status of a murderer for more than a decade, despite his description as a “quiet, kind, caring fellow.”

Yusif Ali Abdi is not the only former murderer to undergo a change of status in recent history. Another Irish murder case of uncertainty was that of Serbian man Zoltan Almasi ( https://www.rte.ie/news/courts/2021/0908/1245391-kildare-court-manslaughter/ ). Zoltan Almasi was convicted of murder by a Dublin jury in 2016. His conviction was later quashed by the Supreme Court; two retrials resulted in a hung jury, and in July 2021 the Director of Public Prosecutions accepted a plea of manslaughter.

There are several points that can be taken from the Zoltan Almasi case to support a theory which suggests that murderers are not always terrible people. Consider the following:

Almasi was provoked into defending himself despite the fact that he acted excessively. Before the incident occurred he was a hard-working man with no criminal convictions. Since going into custody he has been a model prisoner of good behaviour. He has always maintained that he did not intend to cause serious harm although he accepts that his actions were unlawful and reckless. He is remorseful and apologetic. Murder convictions such as Almasi’s can straddle the line between manslaughter and murder. Juries can, and do, deliver untenable verdicts.

Some people can be interested and surprised upon learning that many murderers have no previous convictions, no criminal record. However it is true! This observation corroborates with the fact that murder often happens within a moment of madness. It also happens within swift acts of self-defence and provocation.

Murderers become monsters upon their legal conviction. With one wave of a judge’s wand an accused man becomes an unforgivable creature. Sentenced to life imprisonment (in some, but not all jurisdictions) and ostracized from society a murderer loses any merit that he might have earned in his life. He becomes a scumbag of no worth as far as society is concerned, but is this always fair? Why is it that a man of manslaughter can be perceived as a victim of accident while a man of murder is automatically looked upon as evil? Remember; juries can, and do, get it wrong sometimes. Many human beings, whether they want to admit it or not, could be goaded into killing somebody under the right (or wrong?) circumstances.

In theory perhaps murderers are not always terrible people, and to strengthen this concept one’s imagination is invited to envision a world where Kim Jong-un is assassinated – murdered – by a benevolent man so that he can be replaced by a benevolent figurehead. Ask yourself: Could it be a bad thing to murder Kim Jong-un for the greater good? If you could possibly answer no then perhaps – at least hypothetically – not all murderers are terrible people.