I. Killing is different
A. It’s the most
serious of all crimes.
B. Criminal homicides are
very rare events.
II. Criminal homicide in context
A. Homicides are
very rare events
B. Reasons why we study criminal
homicide
1. Much of criminal
law grew out of the law of criminal homicide
2. The three-step analysis
of criminal liability – criminal conduct, without justification, and excuses
– grew of the law of criminal homicide in the Model Penal Code.
III. The meaning of “person”
or “human being”
A. Killing another
person is central to criminal homicide liability, because it defines who
is a victim.
B. The definition of person
for purposes of criminal homicide presents problems at both ends of the
life cycle—when life begins and when it ends.
IV. When Does Life Begin?
A. Born-alive rule
followed for most of the history of homicide law
B. Feticide
V. When Does Life End?
A. Determining when
life ends has become increasingly complex as organ transplants and sophisticated
artificial life support mechanisms make it possible to maintain vital life
signs.
B. Uniform Brain Death Act
VI. Doctor-Assisted Suicide
A. Euthanasia
1. Passive
2. Active
B. Arguments against Doctor-assisted
suicide
1. Intrinsically
immoral and wrong
2. Unacceptable consequences
will follow from it
C. Arguments for Doctor-assisted
suicide (against pain)
1. There is a constitutional
right to assisted suicide
2. Presumption of bodily
integrity
D. Doctor-assisted suicide and
the criminal law
1. Difficult to
distinguish between doctor-assisted suicide and first degree murder
E. Public opinion and Doctor
assisted suicide
VII. Murder
A. Common law and
modern criminal codes divide homicide into two kinds:
1. Murder
2. Manslaughter
VIII. The history of murder
law
A. By 1700, the
English law of homicide recognized three kinds of homicide:
1. Justifiable homicide
2. Excusable homicide
3. Criminal homicide
B. Eventually, divided into
murder and manslaughter.
1. Killing with
malice aforethought
2. Depraved heart murder
3. Intent-to-cause-serious-bodily-injury
murder
C. “Express” vs. “implied” malice
aforethought
1. “Express” malice
aforethought was reserved for killings that fit the original meaning of
murder—intentional killings planned in advance.
2. “Implied” malice aforethought
referred to four additional kinds of murder:
a. Intentional killings
without premeditation or reasonable provocation
b. Unintentional killings
during the commission of felonies
c. Depraved heart killings
d. Intent to inflict grievous
bodily harm killings
IX. Elements of murder
A. Murder is a result
crime
1. Proving murder
requires proof beyond a reasonable doubt of these elements:
a. Actus reus
b. Mens rea
c. Causation
d. Death
e. Attendant circumstance
X. Kinds and Degrees of Murder
A. Dividing murder
into degrees was a continuation of the idea that not all murderers should
be executed.
XI. First-degree murder
A. Two kinds of
first-degree murder:
1. Premeditated,
deliberate, intent-to-kill murders
2. Felony murders
B. First-degree murder is the
only crime today in which the death penalty can be imposed.
XII. The Death Penalty
A. The death penalty
is discretionary in all states where the penalty is authorized.
B. Since the 1970s, several
limits have been placed on the death penalty:
1. Mandatory death
sentences are banned.
2. Unguided discretionary
death penalty decisions are banned.
3. Mitigating factors are
required.
4. Additional aggravating
factors are allowed.
C. Most states have adopted
the MPC’s two recommended procedures—bifurcation and the criteria for guiding
the decision to impose the death sentence in capital cases.
D. Bifurcation mandates that
the death penalty decision be made in two phases:
1. Guilt
2. Sentencing
XIII. First-degree murder Mens
Rea
A. Specific-intent-plus-real-premeditation-deliberation
definition
B. Equivalent-of-specific-intent
definition
XIV. First-degree murder Actus
Reus
A. Critical when
it comes to deciding whether to sentence a person convicted of first-degree
murder to death—or to prison for life without parole in states
XV. Second-degree murder
A. Felony murder
1. Felony murder
mens rea
2. Rationales for felony
murder
XVI. Corporation murder
A. Most criminal
codes apply to corporate criminal homicide in the same way that they apply
to other crimes committed for the corporation’s benefit.
XVII. Manslaughter
A. Manslaughter
is the unlawful killing of another, which may be either
1. Voluntary upon
a sudden heat
2. Involuntary where one
had no intent to do another any personal mischief
XVIII. Voluntary manslaughter
A. Voluntary manslaughter
consists of the elements of actus reus, mens rea, causation, and death.
B. Voluntary manslaughter
has one element not present in murder, adequate provocation, which is the
trigger that sets off the sudden killing of another person.
C. Adequate provocation has
to be both subjective and objective.
D. The common law and many
states today recognize four reasonable provocations:
1. Mutual combat
2. Assault and battery
3. Trespass
4. Adultery
E. Voluntary manslaughter requires
killing in the “sudden heat of passion” with no “cooling off” period.
F. To prove voluntary manslaughter,
the prosecution has to prove that the provocation caused the passion and
the killing.
G. Provocation by words.
H. According to the common-law
paramour rule, a husband who caught his wife in the act of adultery had
adequate provocation to kill.
1. Today applies
to both
2. Many states: voluntary
manslaughter
XIX. Involuntary manslaughter
A. There are two
kinds of involuntary manslaughter:
1. Criminal negligence
manslaughter
2. Unlawful act manslaughter
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CRIJ
1310 - Fundamentals of Criminal Law
Last
updated: April 2010 |
