Understanding Homicide Law: Explanation of Offenses and Defense for Medically Recognized Psychosis

Homicide Law Task

Table Of Contents
Part 1: Explanation Of The Offenses To Lisa......................................................................................3
Introduction.....................................................................................................................................5
Part 2: If Lisa Suffers From Medically Recognized Psychosis..............................................................5
Conclusion.......................................................................................................................................6
Reference List..................................................................................................................................8

Part 1: Explanation Of The Offenses To Lisa
Dear Madam,
This is to bring to your kind notice that you have been charged for the murder of Perter for the
offence of potential homicide.
Homicide is like an umbrella that shelters every those acts that are related to the killing of one
human being by another human being, and the same can be lawful or at times it can be unlawful.
This potential homicide cannot be always considered to be a punishable act under criminal law,
yet the decision depends exactly on what type of homicide it is1. Now there can be three different
kinds of homicide:
● Justifiable homicide: It is done for the greater good and is excusable under certain
circumstances when they are extensively proven. Killing a person in self defense or
killing the one who becomes a threat to the society is counted here.
● Criminal homicide: This is when a person kills another person unlawfully either with
the intention of harming the individual or unintentionally2. Voluntary/involuntary
manslaughter, helping one in committing a suicide, malice and murder are criminal
homicide.
● State-sanctioned homicide: This is when the state approves the act of killing someone.
War, capital punishment etc. are state-sanctioned homicide3.
Here in this case the death of Peter is being considered as malice murder that comes under the
criminal homicide where the family of the victim is charging you for deliberately murdering
Peter. As a matter of fact, you have tried to hit Emma with your stiletto shoe and missed her
target and that injured the head of Peter that later caused his death. This has been identified by
them that you have got certain specific intentions behind killing Peter and you have committed
the murder with the specific intention of killing Peter in a manner or the other. As the case have
1 Daly, Martin, and Margo Wilson. Homicide: Foundations of human behavior. Routledge, 2017.
2 de Souza, Monica Gomes Teixeira Campello, Bruno Campello de Souza, Wofgang Bilsky, and Antonio
Roazzi. "The culture of honor as the best explanation for the high rates of criminal homicide in
Pernambuco: A comparative study with 160 convicts and non-convicts." Anuario de Psicología Jurídica
26, no. 1 (2016): 114-121.
3 Russell, Paul. "Euthanasia: Belgium, Netherlands in the grip of the small laws." News Weekly 2959
(2015): 14.