X Homicide: Detailed Examination of Murder and Manslaughter Laws

This report provides a detailed analysis of the legal principles governing murder and manslaughter. It begins by differentiating between murder and manslaughter, including the intent, severity, and classifications of each crime. The report then delves into the various classes of manslaughter, such as voluntary and involuntary manslaughter, and explores the special defenses available for both murder and manslaughter cases. Furthermore, it presents the main principles behind sentencing for these crimes, including the consideration of the offender's age and the application of minimum life tariffs. The report also discusses procedural applications and case laws relevant to defenses and sentencing, offering a comprehensive overview of homicide law.

X Homicide
1

TABLE OF CONTENTS
INTRODUCTION...........................................................................................................................1
TASK 1............................................................................................................................................1
a) Presenting murder and manslaughter.................................................................................1
b) Presenting various classes of manslaughter.......................................................................2
c) Describing special defence available for murder and manslaughter..................................3
TASK 2............................................................................................................................................5
Presenting main principles behind sentencing for the crimes of murder and manslaughter. .5
CONCLUSION................................................................................................................................6
REFERENCES................................................................................................................................7
2

INTRODUCTION
Legal principles and laws play an important role. The purpose of this study is to focus on
different laws and analysis the basic deviations between crimes of murder and manslaughter. The
report also presents various classes of manslaughter and talks about special defence available for
murder as well as manslaughter. It evaluates the legal principles and case laws applicable for
defence and analysing theory of sentencing in relation to this. The present document also
discusses the minimum life tariff with respect to life sentences.
TASK 1
a) Presenting murder and manslaughter
Murder: It is one of the most serious conducts. Under common law, murder is unlawful
killing of a human being with a desire to harm someone. This is not pre- planned or lawless
fatality that are done without any justification or excuse. It is considered as an offensive activity
under law and consider the most serious form of homicide (Chiodini, 2018).
Manslaughter: Manslaughter refers to the killing of another person but it is a clear form
of law- breaking of murder. It is considered as less serious as compared to murder and it may be
voluntary or involuntary. The Homicide Act 1957, provides many offences which can be raised
to permit court in order to find guilty of a suspect. It can be done if a person is suffered from
abnormality of mind, have some specified causes, impairment of mental responsibility, loss of
control etc.
Difference between murder and manslaughter
Murder Manslaughter
 Murder is a successful attempt to kill
any human being.
 Considered as one of the most serious
crimes according to Common Law.
 Murder happens when someone dies
because of planning or with malice
intent (Difference between murder and
manslaughter, 2018).
 It is classified into first degree, second
 Manslaughter is a dangerous result of
an unwilling act.
 Considered as less serious crime
compared to murder.
 It is done due to loss of control, mental
imbalance.
 It is classified into voluntary or
involuntary manslaughter.
 Punishment is less unpleasant as
1

degree and third degree of murder.
 The punishment for murder is quite
harsh.
 Murder is a serious law-breaking which
can be considered as the biggest issue.
compared to murder.
 In the case of Manslaughter, jury is
deciding whether a defendant is guilty
or not (Fox, Levin and Quinet, 2018).
b) Presenting various classes of manslaughter
There are two classes of Manslaughter, which are mentioned below:
 Voluntary Manslaughter: Under this, a guilty person has no intentions to kill someone
but there are some circumstances that force the offender to harm or can say that a suspect
is provoked in order to commit homicide (Beatton, Kidd and Machin, 2018). Voluntary
manslaughter is caused because of suspect’s heat of passion killing while getting irritated
due to anger, fright, terror etc.
For example, voluntary manslaughter involves a husband who comes and unexpectedly finds that
his wife committed fornication. This provokes husband into such a heat of passion that he kills
paramour right but court will consider it a killing in a voluntary manslaughter.
 Involuntary Manslaughter: It is an unplanned homicide where a person accidentally
kills someone without any prior intention. Involuntary Manslaughter results from an
improper use of reasonable care while performing or committing an act that is unlawful.
For example, brick off a bridge, landing on a person's head etc. this type of incident is not
considered as a serious crime so they are count in involuntary manslaughter (Van der Veen,
2017).
Manslaughter by Gross negligence: Under English Law, if a person is in a duty of care
and due to its negligence or carelessness, or committing law-breaking such as manslaughter then
it is considered as a crime, that he/ she may be liable for Gross of Negligence. At that time,
suspect needs lots of care or special skills such as doctors, teachers, prison officers etc. The
Court of Criminal Appeal involves various elements in this such as:
 Suspect breached their duty.
 Duty of defendant to deceased to take care (Washington, 2017).
2

It is a form of involuntary manslaughter where a person is acting lawfully and as an effect
the act is converted into a crime due to their carelessness. In gross negligence manslaughter, a
defendant act which causes a serious injury to the person and as a result, court can punish a
suspect whatever applicable as per section described in UK law.
Constructive Manslaughter: It is another form of involuntary manslaughter and also
known as unlawful act. Constructive manslaughter exists when a suspect commits unlawful act
where results come in the form of death (Maxwell and Morris, 2017). Such as if a person fails to
stop at red traffic light while driving and suddenly hit someone who was crossing the street, then
it is considered as a constructive manslaughter because there is no intent to kill but result comes
in the form of death and consider it as a minor criminal act.
Under UK Law, constructive law comprises of basic elements which are:
 must be an unlawful act,
 act must be dangerous,
 act must lead to death.
 and action must involve a risk that caused someone harm.
Involuntary manslaughter is quite different from accidental death such as if a person
drives carefully but when a car hits a boy while walking on a street then it is not considered as an
involuntary manslaughter while on the other side, if a person is drunk and then hit someone and
he /she may be die then it is considering as a manslaughter. To found guilty, UK made many
laws or acts related to manslaughter where people are punished according to their crime.
c) Describing special defence available for murder and manslaughter
There are some defence available for murder; some of them are mentioned below:
Loss of Control: It is considered as a partial defence which is available in UK since 2010
and before this, Defence of Provocation was there which had been abolished and no longer
available. Loss of control happen where a deceased behaviour person suddenly loss their control
and as a result an action done which leads to death. However, there is a need for qualifying
trigger which includes loss of control from emotion of dangerous aggression from a victim
(Stubbs, 2016). According to English Law, if a suspect wants to raise loss of control then they
must provide some proofs that help to disprove prosecution and aid in their defence.
Killing in pursuit of suicide pact: It is a common agreement between two or more
people and it does not matter if the written agreement is to take their own lives or may kill each
3

other. Yet, the suspect must wish to die in accord. On the other side, if a defendant went to die or
when partial defence only applies then there could be any suicide written agreement. And if the
accused help in suicide then they are not able to use this partial defence or may be liable for legal
action for an alternative operation (Gorman, 2015).
Diminished responsibility: An abnormality of mind may arise from a medical condition
and this has to be provided by a description for the suspect's action or mistake. This medical
evidence can be called diminished responsibility if the body is not accepted it as a proof and it
can be done as defence in order to prove diminished responsibility however, this only help in the
case of an offence.
There are some defence available for manslaughter cases and these are mentioned below:
Actual Innocence: Not to commit crime is the best possible defence. A legal action
carries out a burden of proving that a defendant is guilty and there must be a crime that is
charged. To disprove legal action as wrong, the suspect can claim or attack the validity of
prosecution proofs. If the jury finds something in favour of defendant then they will get
discharged (McBain, 2015).
Self- defence: It is an important defence action where a criminal can prove himself safe
by using perfect claim of self- defence. It can occur when there is a strong reason to protect one’s
life and there is no involvement of wrong doings of the defendant. It is only done in case of
voluntary manslaughter where a person is in a situation of aggression.
Insanity: It is the common form of defence where people can prove that he is not
mentally fit. In this case, jury can get confused in order to distinguish between right and wrong.
To prove insanity, jurisdiction requires so many legal formalities as well as medical evidences in
order to cross verification otherwise it can be proved as crime (Baker, 2017).
Accidental Killing: If an accused prove that the homicide is an accident then a voluntary
manslaughter defendant can achieve a reduction in their punishment. While on the other side, in
involuntary manslaughter, it might act in carelessness and they did not wish to kill someone but
there is a death and if he could prove this act as an accident then it will count as an intentional
act.
4

TASK 2
Presenting main principles behind sentencing for the crimes of murder and manslaughter
The main principle of sentencing for murder in all cases are completely depended upon
the age of an offender at the time when crime was conducted. According to English Common
law, if the age of culprit is under eighteen at the time of murder then he/ she will be attaining life
imprisonment where a person is sentenced to be in a jail till death.
While on the other side, if a suspect is under twenty- one then the court must be
convicted that a person would be in custody for whole life which is also known as minimum
term (Chiodini, 2018). After the abolition of capital punishment, In English Law, murder has
been carried as a compulsory life sentence or punishment which comprises a theory of
Retributive Justice that hold the best response of a crime without any interference of parole
board.
Procedural Application: As per Criminal Justice Act, 2003 where judges can punish
suspects as per their age and the act also states that considering a request of minimum term while
the court of Appeal shall not make any discount related to punishment and as described under
sections of Criminal, that is exactly given by court to a culprit.
On the other side, in the case of manslaughter, the principle of sentence for public
protection must be considered in all cases. Under Crown Prosecution Service, if a punishment is
considering the impact on a wrongdoer for their provocative behaviour that has built up for a
long life time. This law is only applied when the case is in under the loss of control and there is a
serious factor that will be identified while doing any investigation. It has been analysed that an
assessment of degree of aggression can be shown by their nature and it is a critical factor that
helps in sentencing (Fox, Levin and Quinet, 2018).
Procedural Application: In the case of Manslaughter, if a suspects is in low degree of
provocation, the punishment ranges from 10 years to life while for short period then sentence
varies from 12 years’ custody. On the other side, in the case of Substantial degree of
provocation, sentence ranges from 4 to 9 years and from starting point, it can be converted for 8
years’ custody. When a defendant is under a High degree of provocation, punishment ranges
only up to 4 years where custody is necessary (Washington, 2017). While it is over a short period
then sentence ranges from starting point to 3 years of imprisonment.
5

CONCLUSION
By summing up the above report, it has been concluded that the laws and legal principles
played a crucial role. Murder and manslaughter have been considered as two different things
which also have different punishments. The report described various classes of manslaughter
which included gross negligence and constructive manslaughter. Further, it also established
special defense available for both murder and manslaughter and evaluate legal principle related
to it. The report also defined the theory of sentencing or punishment in relation to murder as well
as manslaughter and present procedural application of life sentencing.
6

REFERENCES
Books and Journals
Baker, D., 2017. The Limits of Judge Made Law: The Doctrinal Hollowness of Simester’s Joint
Enterprise Theory of Complicity. Concordia University Law Review.
Beatton, T., Kidd, M. P. and Machin, S., 2018. Gender crime convergence over twenty years:
evidence from Australia. European Economic Review.
Chiodini, J., 2018. Practical guidance for dealing with death abroad. Travel medicine and
infectious disease. 21. pp.83-84.
Fox, J. A., Levin, J. and Quinet, K., 2018. The will to kill: Making sense of senseless murder.
SAGE Publications.
Gorman, R. E., 2015. Moreland: The Law of Homicide. DePaul Law Review. 2(1). p.128.
Maxwell, G. M. and Morris, A., 2017. Juvenile justice in New Zealand: A new paradigm.
In Restorative Justice (pp. 53-71). Routledge.
McBain, G., 2015. Modernising the Law of Murder and Manslaughter: Part 2. J. Pol. & L. 8.
p.98.
Stubbs, J., 2016. Murder, manslaughter and domestic violence. In Homicide, Gender and
Responsibility (pp. 54-70). Routledge.
Van der Veen, A., 2017. Criminal law: Examining liability for felony murder through joint
criminal enterprise. LSJ: Law Society of NSW Journal. (38). p.88.
Washington, E., 2017. Crime and punishment: The murder trial of Antonio Agostini. Teaching
History. 51(2). p.23.
Online
Difference between murder and manslaughter. 2018. [Online] Available
through:<https://www.uklaw.com/murder-and-manslaughter-the-differences/>.
7