Thanks.
2007-02-02 06:18:20 · 10 answers · asked by Anonymous in Politics & Government ➔ Law & Ethics
Capital punishment largely varies from state to state, though there are some federal crimes for which the death penalty can be sought (i.e. treason).
At the state level, generally speaking, states that have capital punishment restrict it to 1st degree (premeditated) murder. There are some circumstances where an accidental or non-premeditated death can result in the death penalty. The prime example of htis is something known as the felony nurder rule. If during the commission of certain felonies, a death results, the "specific intent" to committ the underlying crime is imputed to the murder charge and is therefore treated like 1st degree murder.
Let me give you an example.
You kidnap someone. That's a specific intent crime....you thought about it, you planned it, you went out and did it with deliberate intention. You may never have planned to kill the person...but they suffocate in the trunk of your car. In some states, the intention to kidnap will suffice to provide the intention element of all other crimes that flow from or arise out of that specific act.
In contrast, many felony crimes are not elegible for this type of bootstrapping. You commit tax fraud...it's an intentional felony...your tax exmainer is so shocked he has a heart attack and dies...you won't be charged with murder.
(However, if you are robbing a bank and the security guard has a heart attack and dies *even if you didn't touch him* you could be facing a murder charge.)
Lastly, and this one I'm not totally sure about, there is a class of second degree murders called "abandoned and malignant heart" crimes. This is a crime that though you didn't set out to specifically murder anyone, any _reasonable_ person would know that the conduct was almost *certain* to result in someone's death.
Example: you put an explosive device on a schoolbus. Your intention is to blow up the bus....but it is almost a reasonable certainty that you will, in doing so, blow up bystanders as well.
But hey....I'm a civil, not criminal, attorney, so this is all dreged from memories from law school, so take it with a grain of salt.
PS: here's one that may bend your mind....you shoot someone in the foot, you can be charged with attempted murder, because you intentionally did an act that could (likely or not) have resulted in death.
PPS: One thing about felony murder...the murder and the underlying act cannot merge into one. Therefore, assault cannot be the underlying act. If you beat someone to death in a bar fight, the charge is second degree murder or manslaughter, because the act of the felony (assault) was the instrument of the murder, and therefore the two are said to merge and you cannot bootstrap the intent.
2007-02-02 07:06:44 · answer #1 · answered by esquirewinters 2 · 1⤊ 1⤋
You need to be more specific. Are you asking about the US? Another Country? A specific state? These vary. Some states and countries do not even USE capital punishment. If you care to clarify I would happily provide you the information you seek
2007-02-02 14:25:14 · answer #2 · answered by Professor K 4 · 0⤊ 0⤋
In the USA? None, because of the over abuse of the Appeals process, it could take decades for the punishment to fit the crime.. Where's the justice???? i.e. A person murders someone, is caught, tried, and convicted, should be executed, but, NOOOOOO, his attorney Appeals the verdict and gets another trial... Go Figure....
2007-02-02 14:34:02 · answer #3 · answered by Anonymous · 1⤊ 2⤋
Generally just Murder and then only if 1st or 2nd degree (although almost all 2nd degree is not pursued for capital punishment).
2007-02-02 14:24:58 · answer #4 · answered by rcbricker33 3 · 1⤊ 1⤋
Ideally Murder or Treason in the United states can warrant the death penalty. plus any involvement with such conspiracy to commit murder, treason blah blah. Also military law can add desertion to the list of warrantable offenses
2007-02-02 14:25:44 · answer #5 · answered by Dylan m 3 · 1⤊ 0⤋
A murder committed during the commission of another crime...i.e. robbing a store and killing the clerk...
2007-02-02 14:25:26 · answer #6 · answered by Anonymous · 1⤊ 0⤋
NONE should. Capital punishment is useless and stupid. Y take another life? It is a waist of money. CA spends 90 million dollars a year on the death penalty, ALONE, you take that option away, you get rid of court cases, you get more money, and less taxes.
DEATH PENALTY SHOULD BE ABOLISHED!!!
2007-02-02 14:47:31 · answer #7 · answered by hockeygpl 1 · 1⤊ 3⤋
generally, just murder, however, under the law, capital punishment can be saught on "lesser crimes" like rape or henious assault and battery
2007-02-02 14:26:55 · answer #8 · answered by joey322 6 · 0⤊ 1⤋
Premeditated murder (planned, calculated and with malice forethought, usually with very aggravating circumstances, like torture and/or rape) and Treason.
2007-02-02 15:01:08 · answer #9 · answered by Anonymous · 1⤊ 0⤋
Murder, unless you're in a Islamic-law country, then its everything.
2007-02-02 14:21:35 · answer #10 · answered by Anonymous · 0⤊ 3⤋