35863


**Who is to say if someone is 'murdered'** (This is the main question. The
sentences marked with '?' are just to help provide motivation and context for
the question) **?**

Example cases:

  1. Does _suicide count_ as murder?

  2. What if A _accidentally or unintentionally_ (there might be a difference. I talked to a law expert once. not sure though) kills B, whether or not there are witnesses?

  3. What if C kills D in _self-defense_?

  4. What if some student E _trips over and dies_ , without the death being intended by any of the other students, while there are no witnesses? How do the students know Monokuma would really state that E's death was an accident instead of calling a classroom trial to trick everyone?

  5. _Who decides_ if a killing is done in self-defense? _Who decides_ if a killing in an accident? The students? Monokuma?

  6. If one of the students has _dissociative identity disorder_ like in [Identity (2003)](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Identity_\(film\)), and one of the identities murders another student, what happens to the body containing the multiple personalities?

Re the self-defense (hardly spoilerous but just in case):

> There was this one murder claimed by the murderer to be self-defense, but it
> kinda wasn't.

Or it could be. I think that's kind of why we have juries, law experts, etc.

Oh and I guess '[not guilty by reason of
insanity](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Insanity_defense)' is not a defense in
Danganronpa.

PS I'm done with the anime. Go ahead and spoil other media. But please use
spoiler tags for others.


CC BY-SA 4.0
2016-01-27T02:21:05.040
29326
2022-04-15T05:48:12.893
2022-04-15T05:48:12.893
4484
4484
question
danganronpa
Who is to say if someone is 'murdered'?


DGR1 & 2 spoilers abound! Before we get started...

> Some of the scenarios you list don't happen in the stories (at least DGR1 &
> 2,) so there is no way to know exactly how they would play out.

Further...

> even if the rules regarding a certain scenario are well-defined, it's not as
> if Monokuma is obligated to follow his own rules 100% of the time (he
> usually does, but [not
> always](http://danganronpa.wikia.com/wiki/Mukuro_Ikusaba#Chapter_5_-_100_Mile_Dash.3B_Pain_of_a_Junk_Food_Junkie).)
> Since it has been shown that Monokuma does not _need_ to follow his own
> rules, even if a rule was put in place, there's no guarantee that it would
> be acted upon as stated. In other words, any answer to "What if scenario X
> happened, if X never happened in the story?" is most accurately, "According
> to the rules, Y would happen, but since Monokuma can do whatever he wants,
> we can't know for sure what would _really_ happen."

With that out of the way...

1.

> Yes it does! (In a sense.) In DGR1 Chapter 4, [Sakura kills
> herself](http://danganronpa.wikia.com/wiki/Sakura_Ogami#Chapter_4_-_All.E2.80.A2Star.E2.80.A2Apologies)
> by drinking poison. The verdict of the fourth class trial is that (despite
> physical assault from several of the other characters,) the murderer
> ultimately responsible for Sakura's death is Sakura herself, as judged by
> both the students and Monokuma. No punishment is given to the murderer, as
> the blackened is already dead.

2.

> Doesn't matter, whether you intended to kill someone or not, you're still
> the murderer. In DGR2 Chapter 5, [Chiaki unintentionally kills
> Nagito](http://danganronpa.wikia.com/wiki/Chiaki_Nanami_\(AI\)#Chapter_5_-_Smile_at_Hope_in_the_Name_of_Despair)
> in Nagito's convoluted plot to reveal the traitor among the group of
> students. The verdict of the trial is that Chiaki, inadvertently or not, was
> the direct cause of Nagito's death, as ruled by the students and Monokuma.
> Chiaki is thus deemed the blackened, and is killed by Monokuma, as it
> usually goes. This case technically had witnesses and didn't at the same
> time. Whether that factor affects the ruling of the trial is purely
> speculation. My guess would be that it would _not_ affect the ruling.

3.

> No cases of unanimously agreed upon "self-defense" occur in the game, so
> this is one of those scenarios where we can't say for sure. However, two
> cases which were found not to be self-defense, but the potential excuse came
> up in the trial, were [Leon's murder of
> Sayaka](http://danganronpa.wikia.com/wiki/Leon_Kuwata#Chapter_1_-_To_Survive)
> (DGR1 Ch. 1) and [Teruteru's murder of
> Byakuya](http://danganronpa.wikia.com/wiki/Teruteru_Hanamura#Chapter_1_-_Destination_Despair)
> (DGR 2 Ch. 1). In both of those trials, there was no evidence that even if
> they were found to be instances of self-defense, that the culprit would be
> pardoned. My guess would be that even if the death of another student was a
> result of unanimously agreed upon self-defense, the killer would still
> become the blackened, and be punished if discovered.

4.

> This doesn't happen in the story, so there's no way for us to know, but if
> it were to be ruled a suicide, then all the points in #1 apply.

However!

> It's unlikely that this situation would come to pass, as Monokuma is shown
> to go to great lengths to protect the lives of individuals _outside the
> scope of the trial and the victim/murderer setting_ , in accordance with the
> rules (you know, when he feels like it.) To be specific, Fuyuhiko nearly
> dies as a result of the events at the [end of DGR2 Chapter
> 2](http://danganronpa.wikia.com/wiki/Fuyuhiko_Kuzuryu#Chapter_2_-_Sea_and_Punishment.2C_Sin_and_Coconuts),
> but, after being spurred on by the other students, goes out of his way to
> save Fuyuhiko's life, because Fuyuhiko was ruled not the blackened. So, my
> guess is that either any accidental self-inflicted death would either be
> proactively prevented by Monokuma, or ruled a suicide and tried as such.

5.

Monokuma is described somewhere in the games as "judge, jury, and
executioner," meaning he is the one who ultimately decides the _truth_ of any
case, and he is also the one who enacts punishment.

> At the end of [DGR2 Chapter
> 2](http://danganronpa.wikia.com/wiki/Peko_Pekoyama#Chapter_2_-_Sea_and_Punishment.2C_Sin_and_Coconuts),
> Peko attempts to argue with Monokuma that despite the fact that she was the
> one who killed Mahiru, it was Fuyuhiko's will for her to do so, and thus
> Fuyuhiko was the "true" blackened. However, Monokuma rejects this argument,
> stating that Peko was indeed the killer, and that it is Monokuma's place,
> not any student's, to decide regardless.

6.

> This doesn't exactly happen in the story, but there is a case close to it.
> At the of [DGR2 Chapter
> 3](http://danganronpa.wikia.com/wiki/Mikan_Tsumiki#Chapter_3_-_Trapped_by_the_Ocean_Scent)
> it is revealed that Mikan is responsible for a double homicide, but further
> that her personality was completely changed (or perhaps more accurately,
> "restored") after being afflicted by the "despair disease." She was
> correctly ruled the blackened, and received punishment the same as any of
> the other cases, so there is strong evidence to support the case that having
> a dissociative identity disorder or other personality shift is no excuse for
> murder, and the body containing the multiple personalities is punished
> wholesomely. Regarding Toko from DGR1, she was never involved in a murder,
> so we have no idea what would have became of her. My guess would be that
> regardless of what personality committed a murder, that person (i.e. the
> body) would be punished, same as usual.


CC BY-SA 3.0
2016-08-17T23:52:50.573
35863
2016-08-17T23:52:50.573
29326
answer