Introduction
Criminal law refers to a set of rules in various commands that with their universal features, govern the impositions of various degrees of punishments upon failure by an individual to comply. According to Gross (2005), there are a number of criminal offenses that are liable to prosecution in a court of law. One of the areas is on personal offenses and homicide is an example. This paper seeks to discuss the degrees of homicide in detail and their justifications for prosecution.
Types and Degrees of Homicide
Voluntary Manslaughter
Tom allegedly arrived at his apartment one evening to find his friend Bill in a compromising situation with his wife, Mary. He then pulled his drawer, drew out a gun and shot both of them, killing them instantly. Schmalleger (2006), a renowned law scholar explains that to be guilty of Voluntary Manslaughter, it has to be proven beyond reasonable doubt, that Tom was provoked beyond control. The provocation, however, has to be proven to be adequate, i.e. for an individual with a reasonable personality to lose self-control. On the other hand, intent to kill has to be clearly seen in the action of the defendant (Schmalleger, 2006).
Negligent Homicide
Three hundred people on board the Atlantic Airline allegedly died as a result of the negligence caused by one of the engineers who forgot a masking tape while in the process of cleaning the airbus. Proof has to be shown that the conduct of the defendant was the resultant cause of the victims’ death and that it was due to negligence. Fundamentally, the defendant should have been aware of the risks associated with the uncaring act but recklessly ignored it.
Imperfect Self-Defense
On the 24th night of January 2010, Nick is alleged to have struck to death, using a baton, a street boy who had hit him on the neck and made away with his expensive mobile phone. For the defendant to plead guilty to imperfect self-defense, it has to be proven beyond reasonable doubt that while mitigating punishment for the offence allegedly committed, he must have used a much deadlier force than expected. The honesty of this has to be established. Ormerod (2005) however notes that it still has to be proven that the belief he had of self-defense was unreasonable and the actions that he so far took, was to oppose an attack.
Second-Degree Murder
According to allegations brought forward, Richard’s gun accidentally went off in a public market in Johannesburg resulting in the death of three people. Richard did not put on the safety clasp of the gun and therefore, in the review of the evidence tabled, the defendant could be guilty of second-degree murder. Ormerod (2005) argues that the defendant neither pre-meditated nor intentionally caused the murder. The defendant’s action of endangering the lives of other people is therefore guilty of second-degree murder.
Capital Murder
It is alleged that Peter Matthews shot and killed a sheriff on duty at the Wessington Court who was trying to block an attempted kidnapping of a lad. He later was arrested by other officers after his gun fell amid the confrontation. From Peter’s action, it is alleged that it was intentional and therefore guilty of committing a capital murder on the said officer on duty. Clear evidence of intent killing is quite definite in this case and would be proven beyond reasonable doubt (Hall, 1960).
Conclusion
For all these types of criminal offences, the criminal has to be proven guilty beyond reasonable doubt and an adequate penalty meted. With critical investigations done, evidence has to be produced in court for final conviction. However, differentiating between all these kinds of murder counts is an uphill task, and making a final decision lies in the professional hands of the jury.
References
Gross, H. (2005). A Theory of Criminal Justice. L.A: Oxford University Press
Hall, J. (1960). General Principles of Criminal Law. New Jersey: Lexis Law Publishers.
Ormerod, D. (2005). Smith and Hogan: Criminal Law. L.A: Oxford University Press.
Schmalleger, F. (2006). Criminal Law Today: An Introduction with Capstone Cases. New Jersey: Pearson Education.