Voluntary Manslaughter
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[edit] Voluntary Manslaughter Defined
Voluntary Manslaughter, as defined in the book Criminal Law Today, is “the unlawful killing of a human being, without malice, which is done intentionally upon a sudden quarrel or in the heat of passion. Also a killing committed without lawful justification, wherein the defendant acted under a sudden and intense passion resulting from adequate provocation” (Schmalleger, 2006, p. 302). In simple words, voluntary manslaughter occurs when one person kills another in a sudden passion, without premeditation. In the Uniform Crime Reports preprared by the Federal Bureau of Investigation it is referred to as nonnegligent manslaughter.
[edit] Provocation of Voluntary Manslaughter
Provocation consists of the reasons for which one person kills another. "Adequate" or "reasonable" provocation is what makes the difference between voluntary manslaughter and murder. According to the book Criminal Law Today, “provocation is said to be adequate if it would cause a reasonable person to lose self-control” (Schmalleger, 2006, p. 302). For example, if a man were to come home and find his wife in bed with another man and kill both of them in a jealous rage, this would be considered adequate provocation and thus voluntary manslaughter.
[edit] State of Mind considering Voluntary Manslaughter
Voluntary Manslaughter is usually committed under one of the two states of mind, which are adequate cause and sudden passion. In the book Criminal Law Today, adequate cause is defined as “a cause that would commonly produce a degree of anger, rage, or terror in a person of ordinary temper, sufficient to render the mind of the defendant incapable of objective reflection” (Schmalleger, 2006, p. 303). In other words adequate cause means an occurrence where the defendant is placed in a situation that makes them so furious that they go on to kill the victim. The key element, however, is that they do not even consider their actions and hence the element of premeditation is removed.
Sudden passion is defined in the book as “passion directly caused by and rising out of provocation by the victim or of another acting with the victim.” Also, “the understanding that the passion arises at the time of the killing and is not solely the result of former provocation” (Schmalleger, 2006, p. 303). This is where the behaviour of the victim provoked the killer to react in the heat of the moment and an unadulterated logical thought process is utterly absent. Thus, the killer behaves in a manner he might not ordinarily be expected to behave in. Examples are if the murder of a family member, or catching someone cheating on a spouse.
[edit] Conclusion
Voluntary manslaughter is a crime, that is committed while the state of mind isn’t at a normal stage. Voluntary manslaughter as defined by FreeAdvice.com states that “Voluntary Manslaughter occurs when a person intentionally kills another person after ‘adequate provocation’; that is, there has been action that was sufficient to incite an ‘ordinary person’ such that s/he loses self control” (FreeAdvice.com, 1995). Also according to the United States Sentencing Commission if a person is found guilty of voluntary manslaughter, the maximum amount of prison time they would get would be 10 years. (United States Sentencing Commission, 1997).
[edit] External links
- http://www.lectlaw.com/def2/m012.htm
- http://www.lawteacher.net/CrimePages/Crime14.html
- http://print.criminal.findlaw.com/crimes/a-z/manslaughter_voluntary.html
[edit] References
- FreeAdvice.com. (1995). Voluntary Manslaughter - what is it?. Retrieved November 1, 2005, from [1]
- Schmalleger, Frank. (2006). Criminal law today: an introduction with capstone cases (pp.302-304). Upper Saddle River, New Jersey: Pearson Education, Inc.
- United States Sentencing Commission. (1997, November 13). 2A1.3 Voluntary Manslaughter 11/13/97. Retrieved November 1, 2005, from [2]
