Every assassination is a form of murder, but clearly not every murder is an assassination, as America has broken down murder into two general categories classified as first-degree murder and second-degree murder. In modern times, though, basically the only crimes associated with the term: assassination, are typically when a very prominent public official is killed in a premeditated act of violence such as we saw in the assassination of President Kennedy and in Dr. King, Jr. However, there are times when the word assassination has been used such as in the newspapers of the time as well as the movie entitled: "The Assassination of Jesse James by the Coward Robert Ford". In which the notorious killer and criminal Jesse James, that some common people saw as a folk hero, was shot in the back of his head, unarmed and unaware, by his own gang member, turned traitor, Robert Ford.
Basically, assassination as defined by the "Dictionary of Law" is: "A murder committed treacherously, or by stealth or surprise, or by lying in wait," to which, this term assassination is seldom utilized today except in cases of prominent figures being killed in such a manner, even though, there isn't any real reason why the word assassination can't be utilized more often as long as it is in conformance with the definition of the word, as the connotation of an assassination carries that extra element of being especially sinister as well as the element of cowardice as the assassinated person, never saw the foul deed coming.
So that, if the word: assassination was used more commonly, we would expect that the perpetrators of the 2002 D.C. sniper murders would be more appropriately viewed as assassinations because it fits the definition. Further to the point, by utilizing the word: assassination more often, it would be of help in differentiating murders in which the murderer used stealth, surprise, committed it treacherously, or by lying in wait, because in each of these instances, the victim of the murder did not see this fatal action coming, indicating that there was no opportunity for the victim to protect himself, or to collect his thoughts before his untimely departure from this material world.
So too, when it comes to police actions against the public, in which deadly force is used against civilians, these incidents, in which there is the use of that deadly force as sanctioned by public institutions, should thoroughly be investigated by an independent committee for each incident. In point of fact, shooting any unarmed man or boy, is in many instances not only an act of cowardice, but a direct dereliction of duty, as well as an attempted or actual assassination. Additionally, shooting anybody fleeing from the scene of a "crime" that has no weapons upon him, to which the "crime" would not be one that would typically necessitate deadly force, and there is no imminent danger can be seen as an attempted or actual assassination.
The type of justice that any civilized nation should have within their own country, should be an impartial justice, in which each party has its opportunity to present its story to a court made up of their peers, and thereby those that take the law into their own hands, should suffer the appropriate punishment for having done so. Assassination by State agencies should never happen, and assassinations by the public should be dealt with severely, as cowardice in all of its many guises, has no legitimate place at the table of public opinion.