murder - property offences Flashcards
the view of murder
Within the Criminal Law and justice system, it is considered to be the most serious crime which a person can commit
As well as directly leading to the death of the V, murder removes any chance for that victim to experience anything else
Even amongst homicide, Murder is the most serious – as the D intended to remove life
death penalty and murder
It is due to the gravity of this offence that until relatively recently, the punishment for Murder was the death penalty
The last use of the Death Penalty was in 1955, when Ruth Ellis was killed for the murder of her boyfriend
However, the final abolishment of the Death Penalty came in 1998 – when it was abolished for the use of treason, ending it entirely
current sentencing
Murder currently attracts a mandatory life sentence
This does not equal a lifetime in prison- but is instead made up of ‘tariff period’ which would then be followed with time on license
License means being technically ‘free’ but there are restrictions and monitored – it is a life sentence as these restrictions will remain for life
sentence
The current standard sentence (tariff period) for an ‘unexceptional’ murder is 15 years
defining murder - statue vs common law
Homicide Act 1957
Coroners and Justice Act 2009
Corporate Manslaughter and Corporate Homicide Act 2007
These have all added statutory footing to the offence and cover defences throughout all of the homicide offences
murder definition
“Murder is when a man of sound memory, and in the age of discretion unlawfully killeth within any country of the realm any reasonable creature in rerum natura under the Queen’s peace, with malice aforethought, either expressed or implied…”
undoing definition
D to unlawfully kill another person under the Queen’s Peace, and to do so, intending to kill or cause GBH.”
changes from the original definition to current standing
Within Coke’s definition, there was a requirement that the person must die within ‘a year and a day’ of the D’s conduct
However, with advances in medical treatment and difficulties in proving causal conduct has meant this is no longer appropiate
law reform (year and a day rule) act 1996
Changed the year and a day rule
As long as causation can be established, D can be liable for murder regardless of the delay between their conduct and and the death of V
Remaining restrictions include considerable delay of three years plus or where the D has already been prosecuted for a non-fatal offence in the same incident
moral issues surrounding murder
The definition does help with establishing what happened between the D and V
Moral issues, however, can cloud judgments and cause issues with this idea
Keep in mind issues such as assisted death, removing pain and similar concerns
AR of murder
Murder is a result crime, and therefore there is no need for specification of what exactly the conduct is that D must perform
It is satisfied by any conduct which causes the death of the V
The type of conduct is irrelevant, it just remaisn that it is done
omissions and murder
It is possible to commit murder by omission, so a failure to do something
As long as the the requirements for that omissions are met, then that is considered to be enough for Murder
Gibbins and Proctor 1918
D1 (Gibbins) and D2 (Proctor) failed to feed D1’s 7-year old child, which then resulted in the death of the child
Both D acted with intent to at least cause serious bodily harm to the V
Held: Both were held to have been guilty of murder, due to their failure to feed (based off a duty to buy food and a familial duty)
necessary circumstances
In order to establish the AR and to align with Lord Coke’s definition, there are certain elements of murder which need to be established
Without these being fully established, the AR will not be satisfied
under the Queens peace
When soldiers kill alien enemies ’in the heat of war, and in actual exercise thereof’
That killing will not be under the Queen’s peace and therefore, not murder