Legal Studies

In England and Wales, murder is established (mens rea) where there is an act of the defendant, that causes the death

First, sudden killings that were intentional, but not premeditated were added. These types of murder were often completed during a heat of passion moment and were unreasonably provoked by the victim’s actions (Samaha, 2013). However, unreasonably provoked means that the victim’s actions were not substantial enough to justify the actions of the attacker. Secondly, judges added unintentional killings that were completed during a felony (Samaha, 2013). While most murders require intent to cause death, under this law, any homicide committed during the commission of a felony, regardless of whether it’s intentional or accidental will constitute as murder. Third, extremely reckless killings were classified as depraved heart

Other states divide the entire offense of manslaughter into degrees, with murder carrying a heavier sentence than involuntary manslaughter (http://legal-dictionary.thefreedictionary.com/). For example, in the state of California, according to the California’s Involuntary Manslaughter Law Penal Code 192(b) PC, explicitly states that;

Prompt 1) Discuss and characterize the differences between committing a crime purposefully, knowingly, recklessly, and negligently (be sure to use examples and to distinguish clearly, in particular, between acting knowingly and acting recklessly). Given this analysis, what might explain why we blame a purposeful crime more than a reckless one?

Unlawful killing of a human being by an act done: with intention to kill or to inflict grievous bodily harm. To kill or slaughter, inhumanly or barbarously.

State a brief example to illustrate each of the following terms: allowing someone to die, mercy killing, mercy death.

Negligence: A person acts negligently if they should have been aware of a substantial and unjustifiable risk that a certain consequence would result from their actions. Although the level of risk is the same for both recklessness and negligence, the difference between the two is that with recklessness, the actor must be aware of the risk involved with her actions, whereas, for negligence, the actor is not aware of the risks but should have known what those risks were”(National Paralegal College, 2017).

Rule: Omission to act (or reneging on a duty to act) or acting as an accomplice to the action of another all of these are other forms of homicide, such as when the failure to engage in an activity (such as not preventing someone from drunk driving) or facilitating a crime results in a murder.

Involuntary manslaughter is classified as killing another human individual unintentionally by their reckless behavior, or by a misdemeanor or lower level of felony. Voluntary manslaughter is killing another human individual by not having the intent to kill, but acted in the heat of passion during a certain situation in which the individual was having strong emotions. Also negligent homicide is when an individual causes death of another individual through criminal negligence meaning that there was no premeditation but was aware of the risks of his actions (Arizona State Legislature, 2007). An example of a case that falls under the tittle 13- criminal code of homicide sections 13-1101 to 13-1105 in Arizona is the Appellee v. Larry D. Thompson, 204 Ariz.

Causation refers to whether the defendant's conduct caused the harm or damage in a crime and it must be established in all result crimes. Causation in criminal liability is divided into factual causation and legal causation. Factual causation is the starting point and consists of applying the 'but for' test. In most cases, factual causation alone will be enough to establish causation. However, in some circumstances it will also be necessary to consider legal causation. Legal causation is when the result must be caused by a culpable act, the act of the defendant may not necessarily need to be the only cause, but must be more than minimal. Factual causation is

When someone doesn’t live up to their responsibility of exercising care, and that failure leads to another person’s injury or death, the action or lack of action is referred to as negligence. As an example, say someone causes a fatal accident because they were speeding. In this case, the driver who was driving above the speed limit acted negligently, and therefore can be held liable in court for damages caused. The victim’s surviving family members can also file a wrongful death lawsuit alleging that the driver who caused the crash owes them damages associated with that untimely and unnecessary death.

Several questions were raised by the defendant after his trial, which resulted in him filing an appeal of his conviction. Although he admitted to shooting Mr. Villella, Kusmider alleged that there was negligence upon the EMT’s for failing to properly restrain Mr. Villella while being transported to the hospital. During the trial, “a pathologist testified that Mr. Villella’s death was caused by the gunshot wound to his throat, however, the wound could have been survivable (Brody & Acker, 2010, p.116). The issue of proximate causation came about during Kusmider v. State (1984). Judge Johnstone “precluded Kusmider from pursuing the issue of proximate cause before the jury as he ruled that negligent failure to provide approximate medical assistance could not interrupt the proximate causation” (Kusmider v. State, 1984).

The accidental killing are also known as “manslaughter”. “Involuntary manslaughter usually refers to an unintentional killing that results from recklessness or criminal negligence, or from an unlawful act that is a misdemeanor or low-level felony. The usual distinction from voluntary manslaughter is that involuntary manslaughter is a crime in which the victim's death is unintended.” (“Involuntary Manslaughter Overview.” Findlaw, criminal.findlaw.com/) Many people also go to prison for manslaughter but it gets treated like a murder case in some cases. Depending on the case, and how hard it is pressed depends on how hard the try it. There are two types of manslaughter, involuntary and voluntary. Voluntary is when one has the intent to do it. Involuntary is completely on accident. “As an illustration, consider the following scenario. Dan comes home to find his wife in bed with another man having an affair.He is upset and heads uptown to the local bar and drinks one too many drinks. After a few drinks, Dan jumps into his car and begins to speed fast down the street. If Dan had killed the man who his wife was sleeping with then he could be charged with voluntary manslaughter. If Dan were to accidentally hit and kill a pedestrian or crash into someone causing an accident while driving recklessly and intoxicated, he could be charged with involuntary manslaughter.” (“Involuntary Manslaughter Overview.” Findlaw,

Gross Negligence Manslaughter is a form of involuntary manslaughter in which in which the persons charged has caused a death without the mens rea of murder. Involuntary manslaughter being unintentional killings due to recklessness, criminal negligence or an unlawful act that is a misdemeanour or low level felony. Gross negligence manslaughter is categorised as not committing an unlawful act but a defendant committing a lawful act in a manor that is considered criminal. Gross negligence manslaughter can also be committed through not doing something as to result in death.

Society today is comprised of many different races, ethnicities and minds that think differently and similarly on various topics. The interpretation of homicide is a topic that may be considered to be a universally accepted social more. A common misconception of homicide is that it is used similarly to murder but homicide is general in scope than murder. Murder is a form of homicide that constitutes a criminal act. There are also other forms of homicide that do not comprise of criminal acts. Homicides of this nature are regarded as justifiable or excusable. An example of a justifiable homicide is when an individual is in peril they may out of self-defence