Criminal Law: Involuntary Manslaughter Flashcards
What is involuntary manslaughter?
The unlawful killing where the defendant does not have the mens rea for murder.
What are the two ways of committing involuntary manslaughter?
Unlawful act manslaughter - when the defendant commits an unlawful act which causes the victim to die.
Gross negligence manslaughter - when the degendant breaks the duty of care owed to the victim and they die.
What are the elments of unlawful manslaughter?
AR: The defendant commits an unlawful act, The act is objectively dangerous, The act must cause the death
MR: The defendant must have the required mens rea for the unlawful act.
What are two exmaple cases for unlawful act manslaughter?
R v Lamb 1967: It was held that the defendant did not commit an unlawful act (assualt) because the victim did not fear immediateviolence from lamb.
R v Larkin 1943: Defendant was convicted of manslaughter because he committed an assault which was also dangerous.
What is an example case of gross negligence manslaughter?
R v Adomako: set out the elements for gross negligence manslaughter
* The existence of a duty of care by the defendant to the victim
* an act or omission in breach of that duty
* the breach creates a serious and obvious risk of death
* the breach causes the death
* all must amount to gross negligence