Homicide
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| Homicide |
| Murder |
| Note: Varies by jurisdiction |
| Assassination · Child murder Consensual homicide Contract killing · Honour killing Human sacrifice Lust murder · Lynching Mass murder · Murder-suicide Proxy murder · Lonely hearts killer Serial killer · Spree killer Torture murder · Feticide Double murder · Misdemeanor murder Crime of passion · Internet homicide |
| Manslaughter |
| in English law Negligent homicide Vehicular homicide |
| Non-criminal homicide |
| Note: Varies by jurisdiction |
| Justifiable homicide Capital punishment Human sacrifice Feticide |
| By victim or victims |
| Suicide |
| Family Familicide · Avunculicide Fratricide / Sororicide Mariticide / Uxoricide |
| Other Genocide / Democide Regicide / Tyrannicide |
Homicide (Latin homicidium, homo human being + caedere to cut, kill) refers to the act of killing another human being.[1] It can also describe a person who has committed such an act, though this use is rare in modern English. Homicide is not always an illegal act.
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[edit] Criminal homicide
Criminal homicide, a malum in se crime, occurs when a person purposely, knowingly, recklessly, or negligently causes the death of another. Murder and manslaughter are both examples of criminal homicide. Every legal system contains some form of prohibition or regulation of criminal homicide.
Homicidal crimes in some criminal jurisdictions include:
Many forms of homicide have their own term based on the person(s) being killed:
- Mariticide: killing of one's husband
- Uxoricide: killing of one's wife
- Parricide: killing of either or both of one's parents, or of a close person who acts in a similar role:
- Filicide: killing of one's child
- Infanticide: killing of an infant
- Fratricide: killing of one's brother; in a military context, killing of a comrade
- Sororicide: killing of one's sister
- Regicide: killing of a monarch
- Tyrannicide: killing of a tyrant
- Genocide: killing of a national, ethnic, racial, or religious group
[edit] Non-criminal homicide
Homicides do not always involve a crime. Sometimes the law allows homicide by allowing certain defenses to criminal charges. One of the most recognized is self defense, which provides that a person is entitled to commit homicide to protect his or her own life from a deadly attack.
Some defenses include:
- Self-defense (theory)
- Insanity defense - There are several tests to check insanity.
- The M'Naghten Rule or The Right v. Wrong Test of Insanity. - Insane Delusion - The Irresistible Impulse Test - The Substantial Capacity Test or Model Penal Code Test - The Durham Rule or The Product Rule. - The Diminished Capacity Test also known as The Wells-Gorshen Rule
- Duress
- Defence of Others
- Defence of Property
- Prevention of a Crime
- Privilege of Public Authority - A person who has public authority to commit an act is not criminally liable.
- Entrapment - The defense of Entrapment exists when a law enforcement officer (or an agent of an officer solicits, induces, or encourages another to commit a crime which other would not otherwise have committed.
- Mistake of Fact - The defense of Mistake of Fact asserts that a mistake of fact will disprove a criminal charge if it is honestly entertained, based upon reasonable grounds and is of such a nature that the conduct would have been lawful had the facts been as they were supposed to be.
- Mistake of Law - Not a valid defense to crime except in rare instances where it negates an essential element of the crime. Therefore the old saying "ignorance of law is no excuse" is appropriate as a general rule.
- Unconsciousness - The defense of Unconsciousness holds that one who is unconscious, for instance, someone walking in their sleep, does not have the capacity to commit a crime.
[edit] State-sanctioned homicide
Homicides may also be non-criminal when conducted with the sanction of the state. The most obvious example is capital punishment, in which the state determines that a person should die. Homicides committed in action during war are usually not subject to criminal prosecution either. In addition, members of law enforcement entities are also allowed to commit justified homicides within certain parameters which, when met, do not usually result in prosecution; see deadly force.
[edit] See also
- Suicide—Killing of oneself
- Murder book—A homicide case file
- List of countries by intentional homicide rate
