Although relatively little is known about suicide-murder, persons who kill themselves have historically been regarded as introverts, in sharp contrast to those who take out their aggression on others. Palermo's (1994) concept of extended suicide is relevant to the hypothesis put forth in this article, namely, that some people commit murder in order to be killed themselves in one form or another. In the case histories described in this article, the drama and publicity of execution, no doubt, provided a major attraction for some mentally ill individuals. Gilligan's volume, "Violence: Our Deadly Epidemic and Its Causes" (Gilligan, 1992), probed the suicidal criminal mind, the mind of fighting men whose fantasy of heroism is to die and to take others into death with them. Palermo's work dealt with intimate, possessive relationships, and Gilligan focused more on random killings, including the murder of strangers. That such killing of strangers can also constitute a form of extended suicide -- suicide-murder -- is one of the conclusions of this article. Due to the highly suicidal bent of prisoners in combination with their propensity toward violence and impulsiveness, one could predict that death-penalty States will continue to have a high homicide rate within prison walls. When faced with the choice between life in prison and death in prison, many inmates will choose death. Within prison and without, there are certain disturbed individuals -- mostly men and mostly whites -- for whom the prospect of execution is appealing. 57 references