CH. 13 Flashcards
capital crime
A crime that is punishable by death.
castle doctrine
when being attacked in one’s house, a person need not retreat before using deadly
force against the assailant.
corpus delicti
A body on which a crime has been committed.
euthanasia
The act of painlessly putting to death someone suffering from an incurable disease,
as an act of mercy.
e. excusable homicide & justifiable homicide
The taking of a human life when a valid excuse exists.
f. felon
A person who commits a felony.
felonious homicide
Homicide done with the intent to commit a felony.
felony murder
Murder committed while in the commission or attempted commission of a felony.
feticide
Killing a fetus in a womb—abortion
first-degree murder
Murder committed with deliberately premeditated malice aforethought, with extreme atrocity or cruelty, or while in the commission of a crime punishable by life in prison.
fratricide
Killing one’s brother.
genocide
Killing a racial or political group.
homicide
The killing of a human being by a human being.
imminent danger
The situation in which an unlawful attack is just about to happen.
infanticide
Killing an infant soon after birth.
involuntary manslaughter
The unintentional killing of another while in the commission of an unlawful act or
while in the commission of a reckless act.
malice aforethought
Evil intent; that state of mind that is reckless of law and of the legal rights of others.
matricide
Killing one’s mother.
manslaughter
The unlawful killing of one human being by another without malice aforethought.
murder
The unlawful killing of a human being by another with malice aforethought.
patricide
Killing one’s father
proximate cause
The dominant cause that produces an injury or death.
right-to-die laws
Laws that allow dying people to refuse extraordinary treatment that would prolong
life.
second-degree murder
Murder that is not found to be in the first degree.
