What's the difference between first and second degree murder?

Question

Is there a third degree? Fourth?...

Answer 1

Types and degrees of criminal charges relating to murder/manslaughter for US law:
First-degree murder is defined as an unlawful killing that is both willful and premeditated, meaning that it was committed after planning or "lying in wait" for the victim.

Second-degree murder is ordinarily defined as 1) an intentional killing that is not premeditated or planned, nor committed in a reasonable "heat of passion" or 2) a killing caused by dangerous conduct and the offender's obvious lack of concern for human life. Second-degree murder may best be viewed as the middle ground between first-degree murder and voluntary manslaughter.

Voluntary manslaughter is commonly defined as an intentional killing in which the offender had no prior intent to kill, such as a killing that occurs in the "heat of passion." The circumstances leading to the killing must be the kind that would cause a reasonable person to become emotionally or mentally disturbed; otherwise, the killing may be charged as a first-degree or second-degree murder.

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 (such as DUI). The usual distinction from voluntary manslaughter is that involuntary manslaughter (sometimes called "criminally negligent homicide") is a crime in which the victim's death is unintended.

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Answer 2

Second Degree Murder Charges

Answer 3

First And Second Degree Murder

Answer 4

Manslaughter is usually the lowest level of culpability in killing someone. Manslaughter is usually accidental, although with some degree of negligence, such as drunk driving. Murder indicates some degree of intent to harm or kill. Second degree usually indicates that the culprit was engaged in illegal activity involving at least a degree of violence such that a reasonable person would know that someone could get hurt. Often it is the intent that someone does get hurt, such as assault with intent to do grievous bodily harm or assault with a deadly weapon. However, the culprit doesn't really mean to kill their victim, just to teach them a lesson or scare them. Then, when the victim dies, they get charged with second degree murder because they did intend to do harm and because of that harm, the person died. They have added a new crime, called felony murder where if a person dies as the result of the commission of a felony, then the murderer should have known that such a consequence was possible and it goes down like first degree. First degree indicates an intent to kill. This is where we talk about premeditated murder. The culprit planned the action that resulted in the victim's death. This brings the stiffest penalty because it is a crime that society cannot tolerate in any degree. Homicide is a general term that covers all the crime categories, meaning simply man killing. The hom- stands for man and the -icide stands for kill.

Answer 5

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RE:
What's the difference between first and second degree murder?
Is there a third degree? Fourth?...

Answer 6

The way it was explained to me in the police academy was:
First degree requires planning. Eg I am going to wait until this guy comes home and then I am going to kill him. It is purposely thought out and planned. Whereas second degree murder is if someone were to pull a gun out and just start shooting. Like what happened at the mall recently. The kid did not have a set list of names he wanted to kill, he just went there and started shooting. Then there is manslaughter. This is when something happens to do emotionally where you go into a fit of rage and kill someone. Like if you were to come home and find someone else sleeping with your wife. The last one I am going to write about it involuntary manslaughter. This is when a person dies because the suspect committed the crime in the first place. If someone is robbing a bank and an old man has a heart attack, that is involuntary manslaughter. The man saw the gun panicked and had a heart attack directly because the suspect robbed the bank.

Answer 7

In the US, the states have their own definitions.
First degree is planned, intentional murder. Second degree is murder done during the commission of another felony, like a bank robber shooting a customer who tried to prevent the robbery.
Third degree would be a person who causes a fatal accident while intoxicated. There is an intervening cause.
No fourth degree.

Answer 8

First degree is usually premeditation. If you thought about it & planned it. This could only take a few minutes time depending on your weapon of choice, and how you go about it. Second degree is like if you walked into your bedroom, saw your wife getting pounded, went into a rage & beat them both to death with the lamp. I'm not sure about the 3rd & 4th, but I think the next step in manslaughter, which is based around getting into a fight in a bar & beating someone to death. then of course involuntary manslaughter, but that's not really what you're looking to commit.

Answer 9

First degree murder is premeditated, which means you planned it in advance and carried out your plan. Second degree murder is "heat of the moment" murder where you didn't plan to do it in advance but you still purposely killed someone. Third degree murder is manslaughter, where you were doing something to cause a person harm (like stabbing them or beating them up) and the person ended up dead, but you didn't necessarily intend for that person to die.

Answer 10

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Murder: The killing of another human, with malice. Malice: Intent to kill, intent to cause serious bodily injury, acting with extreme indifference to human life, killing during commission of an inherently violent felony (kidnapping, rape, robbery, etc.) First Degree: Varies by state, but generally, wilful, deliberate and premeditated killing, such as killing by poisoning, lying in wait, planting a bomb, etc. Second Degree: All murders not first degree. Manslaughter: Killing of a human, without malice, such as a killing in the "heat of passion," or causing a death by acting in a grossly negligent manner. Homicide: The killing of a human by another human. This not only includes murder and manslaughter, but lawful acts as well, such as killing in self-defense, and flipping the switch on an electric chair. The proper term for an unlawful killing is "criminal homicide."