CEA Murder Escape

The cold logic behind a calculated killing

WHO KILLED DUNC?

START

Introduction

"Dunc is dead. The only suspect is Dinc—his rival, his colleague, his intellectual opposite. There’s no confession. But there is a trail. Not of fingerprints or blood. Of logic. Dinc’s mind is now locked away, fractured by theory. Inside, three ideas swirl: deterrence, marginal deterrence, and the brutalisation hypothesis. They were once academic. Now they may be motive. Your task: enter the house of Dinc’s reasoning. Recover the missing fragments of his thought. Rebuild the story he never told."

Each room is a part of Dinc’s thinking. Each contains one theory he used to make sense of what he did.

Inventory

Fear begins where people feel safest...

You step into the bedroom—Dinc’s. A place of rest, routine, rationality. But that’s exactly where the logic of deterrence begins: not in panic, but in cold calculation. Dinc believed that people commit crimes only when the rewards outweigh the risks. That punishment—if it’s certain, swift, and severe—can stop murder before it starts. In this room, he rehearsed that belief again and again, until fear became reason. To find the first missing object in his logic, you’ll need to confront the core assumptions of deterrence. Watch the theory video before continuing.The room is locked until the ideas are clear.

01

In Becker’s framework, when will an individual commit a crime?

When punishment is delayed

When expected utility is positive

When norms break down

02

What is the primary behavioural mechanism behind deterrence?

Rational cost–benefit analysis

Norm internalisation

Social learning

03

What role does ‘celerity’ play in deterrence theory?

It increases punishment severity

It enhances behavioural responsiveness

It ensures fairness

04

Why is punishment seen as instrumental in this model?

It adjusts incentive structures

It signals moral boundaries

It restores social order

This is not correct...

Find the key to continue

Continue exploring the house

Inventory

Where comfort ends, calculation escalates...

You step into the living room—neutral, comfortable, designed for control. It was here that Dinc sat, thought, calculated. This wasn’t where the murder happened. It’s where the logic behind it deepened. Marginal deterrence is a theory built on thresholds. If two crimes are punished the same, why stop at the lesser one? If stealing and killing carry identical consequences, why not eliminate the witness? This is where Dinc crossed a line—not physically, but conceptually. He began to believe that murder could be the logical conclusion of flawed punishments. Not an outburst. A correction.

01

What incentivises a criminal to limit further harm during an offence?

Marginal cost

Time pressure

Publicity

Social fear

02

What does marginal deterrence depend on to discourage escalation?

Gradation

Equality

Discretion

Morality

03

What undermines marginal deterrence in real-world sentencing?

Speed

Transparency

Proportionality

Flatness

04

What behavioural model underpins marginal deterrence logic?

Rational

Impulsive

Cultural

Emotional

You found a secret message

♪♬ø

Remember these notes and play them on the piano in the correct order

01

...Keep playing

02

...One more

03

Start over...

You found a new item for your inventory

Continue exploring the house

Inventory

♪♬ø

The Basement: Where Violence Echoes

You descend into the basement. The air shifts. The light disappears. This isn’t a space for decision-making—it’s a space for consequences. This is where Dinc encountered the theory he tried to ignore. The brutalisation hypothesis. It claims that violence committed by the state doesn’t deter crime—it legitimises it. Executions don’t frighten the public into submission. They reinforce the idea that killing is not only acceptable, but effective. Here, in the silence below Dinc’s rational world, that idea took hold. Whether he rejected it or let it shape him is unclear. But the question it asks never left: what if murder isn’t stopped by punishment—what if punishment teaches murder?

Use the magnifying glass to search for the code and then insert it into the typewriter

224

Enter the secret code

Code

What is the central claim of the brutalisation hypothesis?

01

Crime is irrational

Punishment legitimises violence

Violence deters

How might capital punishment affect public norms?

02

Reduces fear

Reinforces morality

Normalises killing

What mechanism helps explain brutalisation?

03

Deterrence

Education

Desensitisation

A briefcase has appeared...

It's locked...look in the inventory for something to open it

Congratulations

You’ve recovered Dinc’s logic. The murder now is understood. You escaped the house— but the justification came with you.

Are you sure you want to exit?

You will lose all progress made so far...

Back

Exit

Oh, no. You failed...

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Can a theory stop a murder—or justify one? This video explores deterrence theory, where crime becomes a matter of calculation, and punishment a tool of control. Step inside the logic that turns fear into reason… and reason into something far more dangerous.

What stops a criminal from going further? This video explores marginal deterrence—the theory that punishment must rise with the severity of the crime to prevent escalation. When that gradient collapses, the marginal cost of killing can fall to zero—and violence becomes a rational next step.

This video explores the brutalisation hypothesis—the idea that when the state kills, it doesn’t deter violence, but helps to legitimise it. Capital punishment may not suppress murder; it may model it, desensitise us to it, and even provoke it. What begins as justice can become a dangerous example.