Professional Documents
Culture Documents
Murder Is The Unlawful Killing of Another Human Without Justification or Valid Excuse
Murder Is The Unlawful Killing of Another Human Without Justification or Valid Excuse
excuse, especially the unlawful killing of another human being with malice
aforethought. This state of mind may, depending upon the jurisdiction,
distinguish murder from other forms of unlawful homicide, such as
manslaughter. Manslaughter is a killing committed in the absence of
malice, brought about by reasonable provocation, or diminished capacity.
Involuntary manslaughter, where it is recognized, is a killing that lacks all
but the most attenuated guilty intent, recklessness.
1. Unlawful
2. killing
3. through criminal act or omission
4. of a human
5. by another human
6. with malice aforethought.
The Unlawful – This distinguishes murder from killings that are done within
the boundaries of law, such as capital punishment, justified self-defence, or
the killing of enemy combatants by lawful combatants as well as causing
collateral damage to non-combatants during a war.
Killing – At common law life ended with cardiopulmonary arrest – the total
and irreversible cessation of blood circulation and respiration. With
advances in medical technology courts have adopted irreversible cessation
of all brain function as marking the end of life.
i. Intent to kill,
ii. Intent to inflict grievous bodily harm short of death,
iii. Reckless indifference to an unjustifiably high risk to human life
(sometimes described as an "abandoned and malignant heart"), or
iv. Intent to commit a dangerous felony (the "felony murder" doctrine).
v. Degrees of murder
vi. "Murder in the second degree" redirects here.
vii. Many jurisdictions divide murder by degrees. The distinction between
first- and second-degree murder exists, for example, in Canadian
murder law and U.S. murder law.
viii. The most common division is between first- and second-degree
murder. Generally, second-degree murder is common law murder,
and first-degree is an aggravated form. The aggravating factors of
first-degree murder depend on the jurisdiction, but may include a
specific intent to kill, premeditation, or deliberation. In some, murder
committed by acts such as strangulation, poisoning, or lying in wait
are also treated as first-degree murder
ix. Some jurisdictions also distinguish premeditated murder. This is the
crime of wrongfully and intentionally causing the death of another
human being (also known as murder) after rationally considering the
timing or method of doing so, in order to either increase the likelihood
of success, or to evade detection or apprehension. State laws in the
United States vary as to definitions of "premeditation". In some
states, premeditation may be construed as taking place mere
seconds before the murder. Premeditated murder is one of the most
serious forms of homicide, and is punished more severely than
manslaughter or other types of murder, often with a life sentence
without the possibility of parole, or in some countries, the death
penalty. In the U.S, federal law (18 U.S.C. § 1111(a)) criminalizes
premeditated murder, felony murder and second-degree murder. In
Canada, the Criminal Code classifies murder as either 1st- or 2nd-
degree. The former type of murder is often called premeditated
murder, although premeditation is not the only way murder can be
classified as first-degree.
Exclusions
General