Homicide- Related Offences Flashcards
*** Infanticide
178 Infanticide
(1) Where a woman causes the death of any child of hers under the age of 10 years in a manner that amounts to culpable homicide, and where at the time of the offence the balance of her mind was disturbed, by reason of her not having fully recovered from
the effect of giving birth to that or any other child, or by reason of the effect of lactation, or by reason of any disorder consequent upon childbirth or lactation, to such an extent that she should not be held fully responsible, she is guilty of infanticide, and not of murder or manslaughter, and is liable to imprisonment for a term not exceeding 3 years.
*** Section 152
Duty of parent or guardian to provide necessaries and protect from injury
(1) Every one who is a parent, or is a person in place of a parent, who has actual care or charge of a child under the age of 18 years is under a legal duty—(a) to provide that child with necessaries; and
(b) to take reasonable steps to protect that child from injury
*** Section 154 Abandoning a child under 6
Every one is liable to imprisonment for a term not exceeding 7 years who unlawfully abandons or exposes any child under the age of 6 years
*** Section 180- Suicide Pact
(1) Every one who in pursuance of a suicide pact kills any other person is guilty of
manslaughter and not of murder, and is liable accordingly.
(2) Where 2 or more persons enter into a suicide pact, and in pursuance of it one or more of them kills himself, any survivor is guilty of being a party to a death under a suicide pact contrary to this subsection and is liable to imprisonment for a term not exceeding 5 years; but he shall not be convicted of an offence against section 179 of this Act
(3) For the purposes of this section the term suicide pact means a common agreement between 2 or more persons having for its object the death of all of them, whether or not each is to take his own life; but nothing done by a person who enters into a suicide pact shall be treated as done by him in pursuance of the pact unless it is done while he has the settled intention of dying in pursuance of the pact.
*** Section 181- Concealing a Child’s body
Every one is liable to imprisonment for a term not exceeding 2 years who disposes of the dead body of any child in any manner with intent to conceal the fact of its birth, whether the child died before, or during, or after birth.
*** Section 159 defines when a child becomes a human being, and is therefore capable of being murdered under section 158.
What does this state?
(1) A child becomes a human being within the meaning of this Act when it has completely proceeded in a living state from the body of its mother, whether it has breathed or not, whether it has an independent circulation or not, and whether the navel string is severed or not.
(2) The killing of such child is homicide if it dies in consequence of injuries received before, during, or after birth.
*** Define legal duty’? Section 160(2)(b)
The expression “legal duty” refers to those duties imposed by statute or common law including uncodified common law duties:
** What does s162 (1) and (2) state around when death must have occurred?
(1) No one is criminally responsible for the killing of another unless the death takes place within a year and a day after the cause of death.
(2) The period of a year and a day shall be reckoned inclusive of the day on which the last unlawful act contributing to the cause of death took place.
List four statutory legal duties in respect of the Crimes Act 1961
Duties imposed by statute are mainly common law duties that have been embodied in statute. The Crimes Act 1961 defines duties to:
- Provide the necessaries and protect from injury (s151)
Provide necessaries and protect from injury to your charges when you are a parent or guardian (s152) - Provide necessaries as an employer (s153)
- Use reasonable knowledge and skill when performing dangerous acts, such as surgery (s155)
- Take precautions when in charge of dangerous things, such as machinery (S156)
- Avoid omissions that will endanger life (s157).
In the test for proximity, Simester and Brookbanks (Principles of Criminal Law
224) suggest the following questions should be asked in determining the point at which an act of mere preparation of committing a crime may become an attempt. What are those two questions?
- Has the offender done anything more than getting himself into a position from which he could embark on an actual attempt? Or
- Has the offender actually commenced execution; that is to say, has he taken a step in the actual crime itself?
** Provide an overview of the culpability of persons involved in suicide pacts
Any survivor of a suicide pact is guilty of being a party to a death (if death of another person within the pact ensues)
