# Did Movie The Forever Purge (Murder Legal for One Day) Result in Two Murders?

**URL:** <https://boards.straightdope.com/t/did-movie-the-forever-purge-murder-legal-for-one-day-result-in-two-murders/947769>\
**Category:** Cafe Society\
**Tags:** movies\
**Created:** [August 1, 2021, 2:53pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/did-movie-the-forever-purge-murder-legal-for-one-day-result-in-two-murders/947769 "2021-08-01T14:53:19Z")\
**Posts on this page:** 2\
**Page:** 1

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**Author:** ![PastTense](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/pasttense/32/14550_2.png) [@PastTense](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/PastTense)\
**Post date:** [August 1, 2021, 2:53pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/did-movie-the-forever-purge-murder-legal-for-one-day-result-in-two-murders/947769/1 "2021-08-01T14:53:19Z")

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The two victims were watching this movie (with a plot centered around all criminal laws being suspended). “However, police had no evidence to suggest [the killer] Jimenez knew Goodrich and Barajas, or that he interacted with them prior to the shooting. Investigators believe Jimenez acted alone, but why he shot the two victims was unknown, Kouroubacalis said.”

> **[Man, 20, arrested in Corona theater shooting that left 1 teen dead, another...](https://www.pressenterprise.com/2021/07/28/man-20-arrested-in-corona-theater-shooting-that-left-1-teen-dead-another-injured/)**
>
> Joseph Jimenez, 20, was arrested Tuesday night.

> **[Anthony Barajas, 19-year-old shot in Corona movie theater attack, dies](https://www.pressenterprise.com/2021/07/31/anthony-barajas-shot-in-corona-movie-theater-attack-dies/)**
>
> The 19-year-old graduate of Mater Dei High had been on life support since the July 26 attack that killed his friend Rylee Goodrich, 18.

Trailer:

[![](https://img.youtube.com/vi/xOrXpK-rUaI/maxresdefault.jpg "The Forever Purge - Official Trailer [HD]") ](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xOrXpK-rUaI)

This reminded me of a situation in Boston:

> Six youths forced a 24‐year‐old woman to douse herself with two gallons of gasoline last night and then set her afire. She died early today of second‐ and third‐degree burns that covered her entire body.
> 
> “It’s an almost unbelievable vicious crime,” said Police Commissioner Robert J. diGrazia at a news conference this afternoon shortly after the woman, Evelyn Wagler, died.
> 
> Commissioner diGrazia spoke bitterly about a movie that was shown on the American Broadcasting Company Sunday night. He suggested that the movie might have motivated the six youths, who were black. Miss Wagler was white.
> 
> The film, “Fuzz,” contained a scene in which teen‐agers in Boston burned derelicts to death.

> **[Six Youths Burn Woman to Death In Boston Attack (Published 1973)](https://www.nytimes.com/1973/10/04/archives/six-youths-burn-woman-to-death-in-boston-attack.html)**

So any thoughts if this could be a similar situation?

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**Author:** ![mikecurtis](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mikecurtis/32/3284_2.png) [@mikecurtis](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/mikecurtis)\
**Post date:** [August 1, 2021, 4:34pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/did-movie-the-forever-purge-murder-legal-for-one-day-result-in-two-murders/947769/2 "2021-08-01T16:34:33Z")

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The short answer is “no”.  
But, with human behavior there is no short answer.  
The question is asked all the time. Does violence in art cause violence in the real world. This was asked about comic books and rock n roll and movies. Hell, I bet it was asked in Homer’s time, too.  
Violent depictions in art do not cause violence, but they can help to normalize it in people who were already prone to violence.  
So, this movie, at most, gave the perpetrator an excuse to do something he was probably gonna do eventually, anyway.

I think it’s more likely that he had a grudge against these people (either real or imagined), or it was some sort of robbery or some other crime. But, at this time, no motive has been revealed.