Are murderers victims?

[rocketdodger]

but you're supposing that a crime committed "in the heat of the moment" with no pre-meditation would still be logically mapped out by the perpetrator....I don't think that's always the case. The OP takes this idea one stage further by examining whether certain individuals are even able to control their aggression....something which your "animal" analogy doesnt take into consideration.

Ok let me put it in an easy to understand form.

1) You are a criminal, perhaps even a crazy violent person that cannot control their anger and is prone to attacking things.

2) A man bumps into you on the street and pisses you off.

3) You turn to face him and realize, by the sunglasses and leather jacket, that he is in fact a T-100 model terminator, who can easily rip your heart out of your chest whilst taking zero damage from you no matter what you do.

Now, for the question --- DO YOU STILL ATTACK HIM?

For a truely insane person, the answer might be yes. But for 99.99999% of the people on the planet, including even the hardest criminals, the answer is a definitive NO.