Manslaughter

Question 1

Culpable homicide that does not amount to murder

Answer 1

Except in cases of infanticide, culpable homicide that does not amount to
murder is treated as manslaughter. As mentioned in Chapter 1, the key
difference between manslaughter and murder depends on the mental element
that must be established to support the charge.

Common law draws a further distinction between:

• voluntary manslaughter
• involuntary manslaughter

Question 2

Voluntary manslaughter

Answer 2

Mitigating circumstances, such as a suicide pact, reduce what would
otherwise be murder to manslaughter, even though the defendant may have
intended to kill or cause grievous bodily harm.

Question 3

Involuntary manslaughter

Answer 3

Covers those types of unlawful killing in which the death is caused by an
unlawful act or gross negligence. In such cases there has been no intention to
kill or to cause grievous bodily harm.

Manslaughter, then, includes culpable homicide that:

• does not come within s167 or s168
• comes within ss167 and 168, but is reduced to manslaughter because the
  killing was a part of a suicide pact as defined in s180(3) of the Crimes
  Act 1961.