h2g2 The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy: Earth Edition

...as Rowan Atkinson pointed out circa 1982 - murder is good in that you get rid of someone you don't like... but think of all the downsides: the guilt, disposing of the body, the trial, the life imprisonment - the list can go on!

Hence the whole anti-murder vibe the article has.

I hope no one thinks I'm actually condoning murder here, not in any real sense. Murder is a bad thing which you should never try, even as "a joke".

I refer you to the closing, and decisive, argument in the article. Murder=bad.

A murder is generally _very_ bad for an individual and (due to reduced polution/fossil fuel usage etc.) is _slightly_ good for the population of the whole planet.....but that won't stand up in a court of law.

(Similarily, the speeding driver who argues that since motion is relative, everyone else was in fact speeding towards him will just get a bigger fine)

In the UK it's true that murder has a mandatory life sentence, but most murderers get parole after 12 to 15 years. It's still a hell of a long time though.