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
