2. Homicide Offences Flashcards
What are the three homicide offences?
Murder, voluntary manslaughter, involuntary manslaughter
What are the four steps required to commit the crime of murder?
A defendant commits murder when they:
AR:
1. Cause
2. The death of another human
3. Unlawfully
MR:
4. With intent to kill or cause GBH
When can the physical act causing murder be an omission?
When the defendant has a duty to care for the victim
Is a fetus a human being for the purposes of murder?
No
When does death occur?
When the victim is medically brain dead
Does the court have discretion regarding the sentence for the crime of murder?
No- must impose a mandatory life sentence
What partial defences apply to the offence of murder?
Diminished responsibility or loss of control- if proven, will reduce the offence to voluntary manslaughter
When does voluntary manslaughter arise?
When actus reus and mens rea of murder are made out, but there are partial defences available to the defendant to reduce their liability
What partial defences will reduce murder to voluntary manslaughter?
- Diminished responsibility
- Loss of control
What are the four requirements for diminished responsibility?
- Defendant had abnormality of mental functioning
and the abnormality must:
- Arise from a recognised medical condition
- Substantially impair their ability to understand their conduct, form rational judgment, or exercise self-control, and
- Provide an explanation for the killing
Who must prove diminished responsibility and to what standard?
Defendant, on balance of probabilities
What is loss of control the modern name for?
Provocation
What are the three requirements for loss of control?
- Defendant’s role in killing resulted from loss of self-control
- Loss of control was caused by a qualifying trigger, and
- A hypothetical person of the defendant’s age and sex might have reacted the same way
What are the two things which amount to a qualifying trigger?
- Fear of serious violence from victim against defendant or another identified person
- Something said or done constituting a circumstance of an extremely grave character which gave defendant a justifiable sense of being wronged
Who must prove loss of control and to what standard?
Burden initially on the defence to raise the issue. Then, if HHJ allows as there is sufficient evidence then the prosecution must prove beyond reasonable doubt that defendant did not lose control
What is specifically excluded as a qualifying trigger?
Discovering sexual infidelity
For the defence of loss of control, does the loss of control need to be sudden?
Def must have lost control at time of killing, however loss of control doesn’t need to be sudden- accounts for slow burn effect.
When does involuntary manslaughter occur and what are the two types?
When the actus reus of murder is made out BUT the mens rea of murder is not made out.
- Unlawful act manslaughter
- Gross negligence manslaughter
When does unlawful act manslaughter arise?
Defendant, with the relevant mens rea, commits a dangerous criminal offence, that carries an objective risk to the victim and they die as a result
What are the four requirements of the act for unlawful act manslaughter to apply?
- D must intend the act
and the act must be: - Unlawful
- Dangerous and
- The cause of death (applying factual and legal causation)
Can unlawful act manslaughter be committed by omission?
No, it requires an unlawful act
When does gross negligence manslaughter arise?
Must the risk of death be obvious?
Defendant does not commit an offence or knowingly take a risk, but breaches a duty in such an extremely negligent way that they are deemed criminally culpable.
There must be a serious and obvious risk of death, whether or not D realises.
What are the five elements of gross negligence manslaughter?
- D owes duty of care to victim
- D breaches duty of care
- This breach causes the victims death
- Serious and obvious risk of death (whether or not D was aware)
- Breach must amount to gross negligence
Can gross negligence manslaughter be committed by omission, and why?
Yes, because it is based on a duty, and where there is a duty to act, failure to do so will be a breach
In establishing whether duty was breached, to what standards are the defendant’s actions compared?
Standards of a reasonable person with the same duty of care and applicable expertise
Is murder a specific intent crime?
Yes
Is voluntary manslaughter a specific intent crime?
Yes
Is involuntary manslaughter a specific intent crime?
No- can be committed via recklessness/ negligence. Does’nt require intent
