the explanations of the acts of today, where the understanding of these crimes has been heavily influenced by the understanding of the Enlightenment of them. Future research hopefully will try, despite the obvious difficulties, to analyse the motives of these crimes further. Among the objects of research are for example the role of the spirituality of the time, the milieu, and the individual. In the cases of more clear-cut suicide there is still the great question of the motive. What roles were played by general despair, by poverty and hunger? The rich and powerful are hard to find among the perpetrators. Several cases were related to punishment – those waiting for a military corporal punishment and those serving a life sentence were prime candidates. Devising life in a prison or penal colony as hellish as possible in order to deter or to show who is in charge might lead to the decision that whatever happens after death the risk is worth taking, and so we could go on. Although analysis might be difficult, or in many cases almost impossible, without some understanding of the motives these are histories which will elude us. Still, an easier and interesting route is the study of the reactions until the final abolition of the penalty of death put an end to formal execution as a possibility. Then, however, other ways might be chosen. From New York, some decades ago, there are three cases of persons seeking a certain death by acquiringAIDS.939 939 Wormer 1995 p 3. 263
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