When is murder not murder?

Question

We keep on hearing that 'the defendant admits killing but denies murder'.
Therefore what is difference between manslaughter, killing, accidental killing, killed on grounds of deminished responsiblilty, 2nd degree murder, 1st degree murder or just plain old murder.?

Answer 1

There are four kinds of homicide: 1) Felonious, 2) Accidental, 3) Justifiable, and 4) Praiseworthy. The classification makes no differance to the victim, but is primarily of interest to the lawyers that profit from trying the case.

Answer 2

It depends on the state you are in....

In Delaware... (now let me think back to college....), first degree murder requires intent and planning. 2nd degree murder is a spur of the moment thing usually done in an act of rage and manslaughter is when you accidentally kill someone but didn't intend to. Such as if we got into a fight and you got severely injured and died. Those are the only 3 in Delaware, but like I said, it varies from state to state and obviously from country to country. The different degrees thus make it very difficult to prove one way or the other.

Answer 3

Murder is always murder, but I'll pretend that you asked when is killing not murder. Murder is basically when you kill someone on purpose because you just wanna kill them. The other kinds of killing which don't count as murder are when you accidentally kill someone, or if you kill someone in self defense when there's no other way out, if you mean to incapacitate an attacker to escape but end up killing them due to some unknown circumstance, and things of that nature.

If you accidentally fall out a window and land on and kill somebody below, or if you're about to be killed and can't run away so you kill the person about to kill you, if you have poison in your refrigerator and live alone but someone breaks in and eats your unlabelled poison, if you use a taser to escape from an attacker who has heart problems and can't handle a taser but you didn't know this ahead of time, if you spontaneously kill your husband in the middle of catching him cheating on you but you didn't think ahead or plan it... those are all things which have different names and would have lesser punishments than murder.

For your quote, an example of where the defendant admits killing but denies murder would be if you use a taser on a kidnapper who has heart problems, and it kills him when it's reasonable to think that it would just slow him down while you escape. Obviously you killed him since you're the one who tasered him, but you didn't murder him because you didn't kill him on purpose and there's no reason to think that tasering him would have killed him.

Answer 4

Depends how premeditated it was. Did you take the knife from your house, cross town then stick it in the person you hate. That would be murder. If you got in a fight and pushed someone down the stairs & they died that would be manslaughter as you did in fact slaughter them but you didn;t intend on doing so to start with. Diminished responsibility would be because you are not right in the head and accidental killing would be knocking someone down in the road because they jumped in front of your car. You couldn't help i t but you did kill them.

Answer 5

To be guilty of murder you must have the actus reus (the physical element) and the mens rea (the guilty mind).
Therfore, if you kill someone but can proove that you didnt intend to i.e you didnt forsee the risk, then you can not be guilty of murder, because if you dont forsee the risk you cannot take the risk.

Murder = actus reus + mens rea.

So, if you dont have the mens rea for murder i.e. you didnt intend to cause the death of someone, this results in you being charged with manslaughter.

And can i also add, self defence cannot be used as a reason for murder, as stated by a judge in a court which bounded all other courts below it.

+ i am from the uk.

Answer 6

Murder is in itself is a crime when there is intent involved or when in an act with another felony such as rape or bank robbery. Accidental death is not murder, such as say your in a street fight and one person dies, to me that isn't murder because the intent wasn't there. You certainly may get charged with it but was the intent to kill there? INTENT is the big question and can it be proved if the intent is there then yes you are responsible and it would be murder. In the case of self defense would that be murder. No because the intent to kill is not there.

Answer 7

Manslaughter is where you just lose it and kill on the spur or the moment, like if you caught your wife/husband at it with someone.
Murder is where you catch them at it and then plot to kill them.
Diminished responsibility is where you are just plain nuts/insane - the voices tell you to do it so you do.........
Not sure about 1st and 2nd degree as that is an american thing isn't it................

Answer 8

manslaughter usually means death was directly caused by the actions of the defendant (voluntary and involuntary depends on the cause/action),
Diminished responsibility usually refers to some type of incapacity of the defendant. Rather its drugs, alcohol, or a mental condition.
2nd degree, is not pre planned. 1st degree is pre meditated and planned.
Then of course you have self defense etc...

Answer 9

I believe there is a difference. I think it's all about whether it is pre meditated or not and what the motive was. I have heard stories about women for example who have been abused (as well as their children) for years by men whom they eventually murdered. It's still premeditated and it's still murder but it's not the same as murdering someone for their money.

Answer 10

Murder is killing with intent. It is always wrong and equally bad. Some like to separate crimes of passion, planned crimes, etc. The death penalty is murder. The only reasonable excuse for killing someone is true self defense. This is rarely the case.