Murder?????

Question

Why are there so many different levels of murder???? Murder is murder. There is 1st degree, 2nd degree, 3rd degree, manslaughter, voluntary manslaughter, involuntary manslaughter, capital murder. Why????

Answer 1

There are many subtle differences, based largely upon intent.

Premediated murder (you decide to kill someone, you plan it out, etc.) vs. non premediated murder (you went over to talk to someone and things got heated and you ended up killing them). There's killling someone by accident, and then there are actions that perhaps you didn't think would cause someone's death, but if you had really thought about it, you should have forseen that as a conequence (like say dropping a brick off of a bridge onto the windshield of an oncoming car below you - you should have thought it through and realized that they could freak out and/or not be able to see and crash and die, etc.).

Essentially, different punishments are given out for these different types of murder. Planning someone's death should have a heavier penalty than say a death that was unintentionally caused by your actions (but which you should have forseen), etc.

Answer 2

Our justice system is no joke and is well designed.

It is designed so that 10 guilty go free before on innocent goes to jail and innocent still go to jail. Thais is the reason we have the strict requirements of proof.

Many of the laws people complain about are in place to protect you from wrongful prosecution. All it takes is a detective that thinks you did something on a hunch and he will start accumulating evidence that points to you and not the correct person. It happens allot.

The reason for the different levels has been stated and make perfect sense. NOTHING is ever black and white. Each of those has a differnt penalty associated with it and murder is not just murder.

The fact is that people who complain are usually those who know the least about it. It is difficult to understand sometimes but that does not make it bad or dumb.

Sure there are many things that can be better and I don't agree with all the decisions but it was not designed for me to agree on everything.

Answer 3

The law has variables as to the conditions set by the Supreme Court on how to present a case in trial and what steps to take to prove that the innocent person is found to be guilty and by what means.

If you throw at kinfe at somebody because you were mad at them and it hits them in the neck and they bleed to death and die at the hospital, you're charged with Murder because it was a result of a deliberate act of violence:however, you did not want to klill them you were just mad and wasn't thinking about what you were doing.
So the charge is dropped to involuntary manslaughter or second degree Murder.

If you physicaly attack some one with intention to harm them and they die as a result of the conflict and it was from a bad heart they had, you are charged with Voluntary Manslaugter.

If you intentionally shoot someone with intent to kill them at point blank range, you're charged with First Degree Murder.

If you hit a child with your car that ran out in the street from two parked cars and it was unavoidable and you had just one Beer before you left the house to go where ever, you can be charged with Manslaughter even though, it was an accident and you're not legally drunk and of age, but the fact is that one Beer will bury you because the defendants will try to prove in court that if you had not drank that one Beer their child might still be alive and it doesn't matter if the records show it was inevitable death.

You still had one Beer and that Beer will cost you a Involuntary Manslaughter charge and if convicted you can get sentence to 10 years in prison and must serve at least five -years before you can be paroled and that depends if you take classes about drinking and driving.

The price to pay for one Beer is astronomical when a death ocurrs behind the wheel that you caused and that is the way the prosecutor will hit that case with unless you happen to be a College student with no history of violence or drug use and come froma good family and have a good reffrence to your well being. The charges might be dropped and ruled an accident, but if the defendants do not accept the jury decison they will file a civil suit against you for wrongful death and you will still pay for the accident and death of that child. There's no way to win..you lost because you had one Beer. JUST ONE BEER.

Accused is always innocent until proven guilty. The key to an attorney's succes is always assigning blame.

Answer 4

To have a basis to judge it on. Involuntary manslaughter = you didn't mean for it to occur. Would you give that person the same trial as several 1st degree murders?

Answer 5

Because there are circumstances which make the crimes different. As an exmple, should these 3 people be treated the same way. Person A: plans to kill someone, thinks about it for weeks and then ambushes the person outside his home and shoots him to death.
Person B: a husband and wife get into a violent argument after drinking for hours. The husband slaps the wife and she grabs a knife off the counter and in a blind rage stabs her husband to death
Person C: Is driving home from work and drops a cigarette in his lap, he frantically tries to brush it off his leg and swerves off the road and hits a pedestrian and kills them

These are all homicides of varying degrees and intent. Should they all be treated the same under the law? I don't think so, do you?

Answer 6

I can understand intentional murder, and I can understand accidental murder, but all the rest seems like so much mumbo jumbo to me. Our court systems are really messed up bigtime.

Answer 7

Because there's a huge difference between accidently killing someone, and planning to do it over a matter of weeks and then doing it.

Answer 8

it's all about premeditation, motive, and intention


- shooting up a crowded mall

- failing to properly fix a car's brakes which causes a fatal accident

- killing a terminally ill person who wants to die

- accidentally shooting your hunting partner

- pushing someone down stairs in an argument

Answer 9

it depends on what you did before the murder, after the murder, who you murdered, why you murdered them and if you though of it before you did it, and the weapon used in the murder

Answer 10

it's saying if you meant to kill them, if you had planed it out. IF you did the act, or paid someone to do it. if you were involved in the planing. All of them have different punishments.