voluntary manslaughter Flashcards
what are the two special defences to murder and what do they do
- loss of control, 2. diminished responsibility
- both defences will reduce a murder sentence to voluntary manslaughter and will avoid a mandatory like sentence
what act introduced LOC and diminished responsibility and what act amended them
- homicide act 1957 introduced
- coroners and justice act 2009 amended diminished responsibility and replaced the provocation defence with loss of control
what are the four things that must be proven for diminished responsibility and what act is this in
s52 of coroners and justice act states that must
- have an abnormality of mental functioning
- from a recognised medical condition s52(1)a
- substantilly impairing d’s ability s52(1)b
- this must provide an explanation for d’s actions s52(1)c
why are the defences called special
because they only apply to a defendant who has killed
what is the leading case for abnormality of mind and what did this tell us and who will decide if d has abnormality of mental functioning
r v byrne. sexual psychopath killed young woman. gave us the objective test for whether a defendant has abnormality of mind. a ‘state of mind so different for normal human beings that the reasonable man would term it abnormal’.
-the jury will decide if a defendant has abnormality of mental functioning
how do the courts define recognised medical conditions and what medical conditions will count
-the coroners and justice act doesnt tell us what recognised medical conditions are. medical evidence will be required by the courts to prove that someone has a recognised medical condition. they can be mental conditions such as depression or anxiety or physical such as brain damage and epilepsy. alcohol dependency is a recognised mental condition that can qualify for the defence.
what is the case for recognised medical condition
-ahluwalia, d has suffered six years of abuse from her husband before finally killing him. she was convicted with murder but on second appeal they came up with the battered woman syndrome.
what are the three things that must be substantially impaired by the abnormality of mental functioning
ability to…
- form rational judgement
- exercise self control
- understand the nature of their conduct
what is the leading case for substantial impairment and what did this tell us
r v Lloyd. the word substantial does not necessarily mean that there ahs to be total impairment. lloyd gave a three step test to decide if someone was substantially impaired.
- jury should approach the word substantial in a common sense way
- more than a trivial degree of importance
- can be less than total impairment
what is meant by the substantial impairment having to work as an explanation for the killing
-has to be a significant factor for the killing but doesn’t have to be the only factor
what is a leading case for intoxication relating to diminished responsibility
- r v dowds, d murdered his gf whilst intoxicated. he appealed on the grounds that his intoxication should have been presented to the jury as to provide a potential defence for diminished responsibility. his appeal was rejected because intoxication is not diminished responsibility.
what is the case for when a defendant is intoxicated but also has a recognised medical condition
-r v dietschmann, d suffered from severe depression and was intoxicated when he attacked his victim. it didn’t matter that he was intoxicated because his depression was still caused the substantial impairment which was a significant factor in causing the murder. thus he was allowed the defence.
what is the case for intoxication because of alcohol dependency.
-r v stewart, the courts said that if their was an abnormality of mental functioning caused by alcohol dependency syndrome than the defence would be allowed
what three things have to be proven for loss of self control
- that they lost self control (s.54)
- as a result of a qualifying trigger (s.55)
- and a person the same age and sex as d would have acted in the same way as d or a similar way
what is a case for the measures that have to be proven for LOC
-goodwin told us that all three measures have to be proven for LOC