Legal Terms Chapter 13 - Homicide Flashcards
Homicide
The killing of a human being by another human being.
Cidere
To kill.
Feticide
The killing a fetus in the womb; abortion.
Fraticide
The killing of one’s brother.
Genocide
The killing of a racial or political group.
Infanticide
The killing of an infant soon after birth.
Matricide
The killing of one’s mother.
Patricide
The killing of one’s father.
Sororicide
The killing of one’s sister.
Suicide
The killing of oneself; murder at common law.
Uxoricide
The killing of one’s wife.
Mariticide
The killing of one’s husband.
Justifiable homicide
The taking of a human life when a lawful justification exists; a killing made in self-defense is a justifiable homicide.
Excusable homicide
The taking of a human life when an excuse exists.
Self-defense
Justification for the use of force when resisting attack, including if it kills assailant.
Imminent danger
The situation that exists where an unlawful attack is about to happen.
Castle doctrine
A doctrine that allows people to use all necessary force, without first retreating, to defend themselves when they are in their home.
Viable
Having the appearance of being able to live.
Year-and-a-day rule
The rule requiring that a victim’s death must have occurred within a year and a day after the attack occurred in order for the defendant to be convicted of a homicide.
Proximate cause
The dominant or moving cause; the defendant’s act was the dominant cause of death.
Corpus delicti
A body on which a crime has been committed.
Causation
The direct and proximate cause of someone’s injuries.
Felonious homicide
A homicide done with the intent to commit a felony.
Felon
A person who has committed a felony.
Capital crime
A crime that is punishable by death.
Murder
The unlawful killing of a human being by another with malice aforethought.
Malice aforethought
Evil intent; that state of mind that is reckless of law and of the legal rights of others.
Death with dignity statutes
A type of law that allows doctors to prescribe lethal doses of medication to terminally ill people who have 6 months or less to live.
Euthanasia
The act of painlessly putting to death someone suffering from an incurable disease as an act of mercy; illegal in the U.S.
Right-to-die
Laws allowing dying people to refuse extraordinary treatment to prolong life.
First degree murder
Murder committed with deliberate premeditation malice aforethought, OR with extreme atrocity or cruelty, OR while in the commission of a felony such as burglary, robbery, or rape.
Felony murder
Murder committed while in the commission or attempted commission of a crime punishable with death or imprisonment for life.
Premeditated malice aforethought
Thinking over, deliberating on, or weighing in the mind beforehand.
Second degree murder
In some states, this is when the malice aforethought is implied rather than express; in some states, can be intentional or even not intentional but an extreme indifference to the value of human life.
Implied malice aforethought
No considerable provocation appears, but a conscious disregard or depraved indifference is apparent.
Express malice aforethought
Deliberate intention to unlawfully take away the life of a fellow human being.
Manslaughter
The unlawful killing of one human being by another without malice aforethought.
Voluntary manslaughter
The unlawful killing of one human being by another without malice aforethought.
Voluntary manslaughter
The unlawful killing of another, without malice, when an intention to kill exists, but through violence that is the result of what is often termed “the heat of passion.”
Involuntary manslaughter
The unintentional killing of another while in the commission of an unlawful act that is not a felony or in the commission of a wanton or reckless act.
Adequate provocation
A provocation that a reasonable person might naturally be induced to commit the act after losing self-control.
