Manslaughter

Manslaughter is a variation of homicide that normally carries a lesser sentence. Most legal systems differentiate between voluntary and involuntary manslaughter.

Definition

The law generally differentiates between levels of criminal culpability based on the mens rea, or state of mind. This is particularly true within the law of homicide, where murder requires either the intent to kill, or a state of mind called malice, or malice aforethought, which may involve an unintentional killing but with a willful disregard for life. The less serious offense of manslaughter, on the other hand, is the taking of human life but in a manner considered by law as less culpable than murder.

Culpable homicide is a term used in various English Common Law jurisdictions and in Scots Law, where it covers a number of different types of criminal homicide, roughly equivalent to manslaughter in English law and manslaughter in other legal criminal jurisdictions. They are part of one category in the case where death is caused by improper conduct and where the guilt is less than murder. Culpable homicide is often broken down into "voluntary culpable homicide," where the mens rea for murder is present but mitigating circumstances reduce the crime to culpable homicide, and "involuntary culpable homicide" where the mens rea for murder is not present but either the independent mens rea for culpable homicide is present, or the circumstances in which death was caused make it culpable homicide.

Voluntary manslaughter

Voluntary Manslaughter is the intentional killing of a human being in which the offender had no prior intent to kill and acted during "the heat of passion," under circumstances that would cause a reasonable person to become emotionally or mentally disturbed. In the Uniform Crime Reports prepared by the Federal Bureau of Investigation it is referred to as nonnegligent manslaughter.

There have been two types of voluntary manslaughter recognized in law, although they are so closely related and in many cases indistinguishable that many jurisdictions do not differentiate between them.

Heat of Passion

In this situation, the actions of another cause the defendant to act in the heat of the moment and without reflection. Some examples include a defendant provoked into a loss of control by unexpectedly finding a spouse in the arms of a lover or witnessing an attack against his or her child.

Provocation

Provocation consists of the reasons for which one person kills another. "Adequate" or "reasonable" provocation is what makes the difference between voluntary manslaughter and murder. According to the book Criminal Law Today, “provocation is said to be adequate if it would cause a reasonable person to lose self-control.”.

Imperfect Self-Defense

In some jurisdictions malice can also be negated by imperfect self-defense. Self-defense is considered imperfect when the killer acted from his belief in the necessity for self-defense, but that belief was not reasonable under the circumstances. If the belief in self-defense were reasonable, then the killing would be considered justified and not unlawful. Where the belief is unreasonable the homicide is considered to be voluntary manslaughter.

Intent to Kill

Intent to kill is normally present during a voluntary manslaughter, but is not required. Since most heat of passion and imperfect self-defense killings involve intent to kill, typically voluntary manslaughters involve intentional killings. However, there are occasions when intent to kill is not present, although malice is. For example, a person responds to oral provocation by engaging in physical altercation. The provocation is sufficient so that his response is justified. He intends only to beat up those who have teased him, but someone unfortunately dies. The crime is voluntary manslaughter despite the absence of intent to kill.

Involuntary manslaughter

Involuntary manslaughter, sometimes called criminally negligent homicide in the United States or culpable homicide in Scotland, occurs where there is no intention to kill or cause serious injury but death is due to recklessness or criminal negligence.

Criminal negligence

Negligence consists of conduct by an individual which is not reasonable — that is, the individual did not act with the care and caution of a reasonable person in similar circumstances. This "reasonable person" is fictitious, of course, but reflects the standard of conduct which society wishes to impose. Violation of this standard may lead to civil liability for the consequences of the negligent behavior.

Negligence rises to the level of criminal negligence where the conduct reaches a higher degree of carelessness or inattention, perhaps to the point of indifference.

Recklessness

Recklessness or willful blindness is defined as a wanton disregard for the known dangers of a particular situation. An example of this would be throwing a brick off a bridge onto vehicular traffic below. There exists no intent to kill, consequently a resulting death may not be considered murder. However, the conduct is probably reckless, sometimes used interchangeably with criminally negligent, which may subject him to prosecution for involuntary manslaughter: the individual was aware of the risk of danger to others and willfuly disregarded it.

In many jurisdictions, such as in California, if the unintentional conduct amounts to such gross negligence as to amount to a willful or depraved indifference to human life, the mens rea may be considered to constitute malice. In such a case, the offense may be murder, often characterized as second degree murder.

In some jurisdictions, such as Victoria, recklessness is sufficient mens rea to justify a conviction for murder.

Vehicular or Intoxication manslaughter

Vehicular manslaughter is a kind of misdemeanor manslaughter, which holds persons liable for any death that occurs because of criminal negligence or a violation of traffic safety laws. A common use of the vehicular manslaughter laws involves prosecution for a death caused by driving under the influence (or driving with .08% blood alcohol content), although an independent infraction or negligence is usually also required.

In some US states, such as Texas, Intoxication Manslaughter is a distinctly defined offense. A person commits intoxication manslaughter if he or she operates a motor vehicle in a public place, operates an aircraft, a watercraft, or an amusement ride, or assembles a mobile amusement ride; and is intoxicated and by reason of that intoxication causes the death of another by accident or mistake.

Intoxication manslaughter, vehicular manslaughter and other similar offenses require a lesser mens rea than other manslaughter offenses. Furthermore, the fact that the defendant is entitled to use the alcohol, controlled substance, drug, dangerous drug, or other substance is not a defense. For example, in Texas, to prove intoxication manslaugher it is not necessary to prove the person was negligent in causing the death of another, only that they were intoxicated and operated a motor vehicle and someone died.

Misdemeanor manslaughter

In the United States, this is a lesser version of felony murder and covers a person who causes the death of another while committing a misdemeanor — that is, a violation of law that does not rise to the level of a felony. This may automatically lead to a conviction for the homicide if the misdemeanor involved a law designed to protect human life. Many safety laws are infractions, meaning that a person can be convicted regardless of mens rea.

Legal Reasoning of Manslaughter

The subjectivist theory of choice

This theory regards individuals as autonomous beings who are capable of choice and deserving of respect. Thus, moral guilt and criminal liability should be imposed only on people who can be said to have chosen to behave in a certain way, or to have caused or unreasonably risked causing certain consequences. This contrasts with utilitarianism which emphasises the social benefit implicit in the deterrent value of punishment rather than the justice of the punishment for the particular offender. Most crimes require a mens rea element based on consequences intended or knowingly risked, and sentencing is usually based on a correspondence between the degree of perceived fault and the punishment representing just deserts for that fault. Some societies therefore place a limit on the number of situations in which a person may be held liable for inadvertently causing loss or injury, always requiring a subjective mens rea for a conviction.

References

ISBN links support NWE through referral fees

• Duff, R. A. "Virtue, Vice, and Criminal Liability: Do We Want an Aristotelian Criminal Law?" Vol. 6. Buffalo Criminal Law Review, 147 Retrieved July 5, 2007.
• Duff, R. A. (1990). Intention, Agency and Criminal Liability: Philosophy of Action and the Criminal Law (Philosophical Introductions). London: Blackwell. ISBN 0631153128
• Gardner, Simon. (1995). "Manslaughter by Gross Negligence" 111 Law Quarterly Review 22
• Culpable Homicide Strathclyde University Scots law course. Retrieved July 5, 2007.

External links

• http://www.lectlaw.com/def2/m012.htm
• http://www.lawteacher.net/CrimePages/Crime14.html
• http://print.criminal.findlaw.com/crimes/a-z/manslaughter_voluntary.html
• Criminal Code of Canada The Canadian Legal Information Institute CanLII.

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