Introduction
There are four ways through which individuals in the world ultimately expire or die. The four include suicide, murder, accident and natural death. Among the four ways, the one that attracts the most attention is murder. Murder, also referred to as homicide, is the act of one individual killing the other. However, there are sometimes when homicide is not criminal. For example, a person can kill another while defending themselves. In other cases, someone may be given the authority by law to take the life of the other individual who may have committed serious crimes.
A Summary of the History and Evolution of the Law Regarding Murder
In developing the homicide statutes in the past, many nations depended on the common law body that was drawn up by the English Courts. Homicide was categorized into two by that early common law: non- felonious and felonious. Historically, the premeditated and deliberate taking life of an individual by another person fell into the category of felonious homicide and that was categorized as murder. Non-felonious murder, on the other hand, included excusable and justifiable homicide (Yadav, 1993). Despite the fact that justifiable homicide had been viewed as a crime, a pardon was received by the offenders. Excusable homicide did not fall into the category of offences. Under that common law, those who killed other people were also supposed to be killed.
The modern statutes have also categorized homicide (criminal) into two: manslaughter and murder. Manslaughter involves the unintentional termination of another person’s life which results from an individual’s criminal negligence. Murder, unlike manslaughter, is divided into the first degree (which involves predetermined termination of the other individual’s life with intent) and second-degree (which does not involve a premeditated plan of taking the life of another person).
The Elements of Murder
The first element of murder is the intent. The person who kills the other must have deliberately planned to kill the other individual. The intent to take the life of the other is determined by checking the behavior of the accused. For example, if there is evidence that one individual (the accused), pointed a gun to another (victim) and then shot him or her with it, then it is inferred that the defendant had the intention to kill the other person (victim).
Human being is the second element of murder; for a case to be considered murder, the person or persons murdered must be human beings. This statement, therefore, excludes animals from the category of human beings. However, questions are raised as to when do the killed fall in the category of human beings and as to when they do not fall in the category of human beings. Foetuses are not recognized by human beings in criminal law. If the dead individual is a very small child, it must be determined that the child was delivered alive, and the umbilical cord was severed so that the baby could be given independent existence, which was later terminated by the other individual’s act (Fagothey, 2000). Killing the fetus does not fall into the category of criminal homicide, which is regarded as feticide or abortion that may be criminal or lawful depending on the circumstances. Also, causing physical damage to a person who was initially dead is not homicide, but is the crime of abusing a corpse (Bevans, 2015).
The other element of murder is the act. There must be a physical action that was used by one person to terminate the life of the other individual. Therefore, for the accused to be held guilty, there must be proof that the accused inflicted physical injury, which resulted in the death of his victim.
Causation is the other element of murder. It deals with those events which cause the termination of the life of the victim. Therefore, there must be proof that the actions of the accused directly led to the death of the victim (Samaha, 2013). The determination of causation is usually and must be done by those responsible before the defendants are convicted of murder.
The other element of murder is sentence. If there is proof that the accused was guilty, then he or she must be sentenced by the justice system. The sentence is usually a form of punishment to the accused as a result of terminating the life of another individual. The punishment also provides closure to the loved ones left behind by the individual killed.
Degrees of Murder
In the past, English judges had not divided murder into degrees and therefore all homicides were capital offences (Samaha, 2013). The division later came in so that just punishments could be determined. There are three degrees of homicide: The first, second and third degree. First-degree murder, also referred to as capital murder, involves elements such as premeditation, malice or planning (Samaha, 2013). In addition, “malice aforethought” is required, as the element of the first degree in some states. Deliberate means that the defendant made a clear decision to terminate the life of the victim. Premeditation means that there were plans made by the defendant before he killed the victim.
Second-degree murder is the intentional termination of the other person’s life. However, unlike in the first-degree murder, there are no plans made by the accused (Samaha, 2013). Three situations which constitute the second-degree murder are killings carried out without premeditation, killings that result from the actions that were intended to cause bodily harm, and killings that result due to the accused engaging in conduct that led to the death of others. Lastly, third-degree murder involves the other kinds of murder which do not fall into the category of intentional murders.
Conclusion
Conclusively, murder is an act that has been taken very seriously by the criminal justice systems of various countries from the past. It has been divided into two common degrees so that just punishments can be determined. The three categories are first-degree murder, second-degree and third-degree murder. The differences between the three degrees are the elements that constitute them.
References
Bevans, N. R. (2015). Criminal law and procedure for the paralegal. Stamford: Cengage
Learning.
Fagothey, A. (2000). Right and Reason: Ethics Based on the Teachings of Aristotle & St. Thomas Aquinas. Rockford, IL: TAN Books.
Samaha, J. (2013). Criminal Law. Cengage Learning
Yadav, R. D. (1993). Law of crime and self-defence. New Delhi, India: Mittal Publications.
