Murder gets talked about a lot....
Murder is the unlawful killing of another without or valid , especially the unlawful killing of another human with . This state of mind may, depending upon the , distinguish murder from other forms of unlawful , such as . Manslaughter is a killing committed in the absence of malice, brought about by reasonable , or . , where it is recognized, is a killing that lacks all but the most attenuated , recklessness.
Most societies consider murder to be an extremely serious crime, and thus believe that the person charged should receive harsh punishments for the purposes of , , , or . In most countries, a person convicted of murder generally faces a long-term prison sentence, possibly a ; and in a few, the may be imposed.
The eighteenth-century English jurist (citing ), in his set out the definition of murder, which by this definition occurs
when a person, of sound memory and discretion, unlawfully kills any reasonable creature in being and under the king's peace, with malice aforethought, either express or implied.
The elements of common law murder are:
Unlawfulkillingthrough criminal act or omissionof a humanby another humanwith malice aforethought.Unlawful – This distinguishes murder from killings that are done within the boundaries of law, such as capital punishment, justified , or the killing of enemy by lawful combatants as well as causing to during a war.Killing – At common law life ended with – the total and irreversible cessation of blood circulation and respiration.With advances in medical technology courts have adopted irreversible cessation of all brain function as marking the end of life.Сriminal act or omission – Killing can be committed by an act or an .Of a human – This element presents the issue of when life begins. At common law, a was not a human being. Life began when the fetus passed through the and took its first breath.By another human – In early common law, was considered murder.The requirement that the person killed be someone other than the perpetrator excluded suicide from the definition of murder.With malice aforethought – Originally carried its everyday meaning – a deliberate and premeditated (prior intent) killing of another motivated by ill will. Murder necessarily required that an appreciable time pass between the formation and execution of the intent to kill. The courts broadened the scope of murder by eliminating the requirement of actual premeditation and deliberation as well as true malice. All that was required for malice aforethought to exist is that the perpetrator act with one of the four states of mind that constitutes "malice".
The four states of mind recognized as constituting "malice" are:
,Intent to inflict short of death,Reckless indifference to an unjustifiably high risk to human life (sometimes described as an "abandoned and malignant heart"), orIntent to commit a dangerous (the "" doctrine).
Under state of mind (i), intent to kill, the deadly weapon rule applies. Thus, if the defendant intentionally uses a or instrument against the victim, such use authorizes a permissive inference of intent to kill. In other words, "". Examples of deadly weapons and instruments include but are not limited to guns, knives, deadly toxins or chemicals or gases and even vehicles when intentionally used to harm one or more victims.
Under state of mind (iii), an "abandoned and malignant heart", the killing must result from the defendant's conduct involving a reckless indifference to human life and a conscious disregard of an unreasonable risk of death or serious bodily injury. In Australian jurisdictions, the unreasonable risk must amount to a foreseen probability of death (or grievous bodily harm in most states), as opposed to possibility.
Under state of mind (iv), the felony-murder doctrine, the felony committed must be an inherently dangerous felony, such as burglary, arson, rape, robbery or kidnapping. Importantly, the underlying felony cannot be a such as assault, otherwise all criminal homicides would be murder as all are felonies.
As with most legal terms, the precise definition of murder varies between jurisdictions and is usually codified in some form of legislation. Even when the legal distinction between murder and manslaughter is clear, it is not unknown for a jury to find a murder defendant guilty of the lesser offence. The jury might sympathise with the defendant (e.g. in a , or in the case of a bullied victim who kills their tormentor), and the jury may wish to protect the defendant from a sentence of life imprisonment or execution.
