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Homicide

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
CainSlaysAbelbyGustave Doré

Homicideis an act in which a person causes thedeathof anotherperson.A homicide requires only avolitionalact, or an omission, that causes the death of another, and thus a homicide may result fromaccidental,reckless,ornegligent actseven if there is nointentto cause harm.[1]It is separate fromsuicide.

Homicides can be divided into many overlapping legal categories, such asmurder,manslaughter,justifiable homicide,assassination,killing inwar(either following thelaws of waror as awar crime),euthanasia,andcapital punishment,depending on the circumstances of the death. These different types of homicides are often treated very differently in humansocieties;some are consideredcrimes,while others are permitted or evenorderedby thelegal system.

Criminality

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Criminalhomicide takes many forms, including accidental killing and murder. Criminal homicide is divided into two broad categories—murderandmanslaughter—based upon thestate of mindand intent of the person who commits the homicide.[2]

A report issued by theUnited Nations Office on Drug and Crimein July 2019 documented that nearly 464,000 people around the world were killed in homicides in 2017, a number significantly in excess of the 89,000 killed in armed conflicts during the same period.[3]

Murder

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Murder is the most serious crime that can be charged following a homicide. In many jurisdictions, murder may be punished bylife in prisonor evencapital punishment.[4]Although categories of murder can vary by jurisdiction, murder charges fall undertwo broad categories,ordegrees:

  • First degree: Thepremeditated,unlawful, intentional killing of another person.
  • Second degree: The intentional, unlawful killing of another person, but without any premeditation.

In some jurisdictions, a homicide that occurs during the commission of a dangerouscrimemay constitute murder, regardless of the actor's intent to commit homicide. In theUnited States,this is known as thefelony murder rule.[5]In simple terms, under the felony murder rule a person who commits a felony may be guilty of murder if someone dies as a result of the commission of the crime, including the victim of the felony, a bystander or a co-felon, regardless their intent—or lack thereof—to kill, and even when the death results from the actions of a co-defendant or third party who is reacting to the crime.

Preterintentional killing

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The preterintentional killing[6]occurs when a person,[7]with actions aimed at hitting or harming, unintentionally causes the death of a person:[8]the agent will be liable for objective responsibility (or fault, for the laws that require it)[9]for the death event.[10]

Manslaughter

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Manslaughter is a form of homicide in which the person who commits the homicide either does not intend to kill the victim, or kills the victim as the result of circumstances that would cause a reasonable person to become emotionally or mentally disturbed to the point of potentially losing control of their actions.[11]The distinction between murder and manslaughter is sometimes said to have first been made by the ancient Athenian lawmakerDracoin the 7th century BC. The penalty for manslaughter is normally less than the penalty for murder. The two broad categories of manslaughter are:[11]

  • Voluntary manslaughter:the intentional, unpremeditated killing of another person as the result of a disturbed state of mind, orheat of passion.
  • Involuntary manslaughter: the unintentional killing of another person through an act of recklessness that shows indifference to the lives and safety of others, or an act of negligence that could reasonably be foreseen to result in death. The act that results in death may be intentional, such as pushing somebody in anger, but their death (such as by their subsequently falling, striking their head, and suffering a lethal head injury) is not.

Another form of manslaughter in some jurisdictions isconstructive manslaughter,which may be charged if a person causes a death without intention but as the result of violating an important safety law or regulation.[12][13]

Lawful excuse

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Not all homicides are crimes, or subject to criminal prosecution.[14]Some are legally privileged, meaning that they are not criminal acts at all. Others may occur under circumstances that provide the defendant with a full or partial defense to criminal prosecution. Common defenses include:

  • Self-defense:while most homicides by civilians are criminally prosecutable, aright of self-defense(often including the right to defend others)[15]is widely recognized, including, in dire circumstances, the use of deadly force.[16]
  • Mental incapacity:A defendant may attempt to prove that they are not criminally responsible for a homicide due to a mental disorder. In some jurisdictions, mentally incompetent killers may beinvoluntarily committedin lieu of criminal trial. Mental health and development are often taken into account during sentencing. For example, in the United States, the death penalty cannot be applied to convicted murderers with intellectual disabilities.[17]
  • Defense of infancy– Small children are not held criminally liable before the age of criminal responsibility. Ajuvenile courtmay handle defendants above this age but below the legalage of majority,though because homicide is a serious crime some older minors are charged in an adult justice system. Age is sometimes also taken into account during sentencing even if the perpetrator is old enough to have criminal responsibility.
  • Justifiable homicideor privilege: Due to the circumstances, although a homicide occurs, the act of killing is not unlawful. For example, a killing on the battlefield during war is normally lawful, or a police officer may shoot a dangerous suspect in order to protect the officer's own life or the lives and safety of others.

The availability of defenses to a criminal charge following a homicide may affect the homicide rate. For example, it has been suggested that the availability of "stand your ground"defense has resulted in an increase in the homicide rate in U.S. jurisdictions that recognize the defense,[18]including Florida.[19][20]

By state actors

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Homicides committed bystate actorsmay be considered lawful or unlawful according to:

Types of state killings include:

The termmass killinghas been proposed bygenocide scholarsas a concept to define certain large-scale killings ofnon-combatantsby state actors. Some medium- and large-scale mass killings by state actors have been termedmassacres,though not all such killings have been so named. The term "democide"was coined by American political scientistRudolph Rummelto describe "murder by government" in general, which included both extrajudicial killings and widespread systematic acts of homicide. Killings committed by state actors might be called "murder" or "mass murder" in general usage, especially if seen by the commentator as unethical, but the domestic legal definitions of murder, manslaughter, etc., usually exclude killings carried out by lawful government action.[21][22][23][24]

Dartmouth CollegeprofessorBenjamin Valentinooutlines two major categories of mass killings: dispossessive mass killing and coercive mass killing. The first category includes four subcategories: communist, fascist, ethnic and territorial mass killings, while second category includescounterinsurgency,terroristandimperialistmass killings. Valentino included several prominent examples of dispossessive mass killing to include his arguments, including theHolodomor,Great Leap ForwardandCambodian genocidefor communist mass killings, theWhite Terror,the HolocaustandDirty Warfor fascist mass killings, theArmenianandRwandan genocidesfor ethnic mass killings and theAmerican Indian WarsandHerero and Nama genocidefor territorial mass killings. He also included examples of coercive mass killings, including counterinsurgency killings during theAlgerian WarandSoviet–Afghan War,terrorist mass killings such asstrategic bombing during World War IIand theblockade of Biafra,andGermanandJapanese imperialismduringWorld War IIas examples of imperialist mass killings.[25][26][27][28][29][30][31][32][33][34][35][36][37]

Rates

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See or editsource data.
Number of homicide deaths per 100,000 people[38]
Countries with the highest intentional homicide rates are generally less populous.[39]
Comparison of homicide rates for high-incomeOECDcountries[40]

Global

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A 2011 study by theUnited Nations Office on Drugs and Crimebrought together a wide variety of data sources to create a worldwide picture of trends and developments.[41]Sources included multiple agencies and field offices of theUnited Nations,theWorld Health Organization,and national and international sources from 207 countries.

The report estimated that in 2010, the total number of homicides globally was 468,000. More than a third (36%) occurred inAfrica,31 percent in theAmericas,27 percent inAsia,five percent inEuropeand one percent inOceania.Since 1995, the homicide rate has been falling in Europe, North America, and Asia, but has risen to a near "crisis point" inCentral Americaand theCaribbean.Of all homicides worldwide, 82 percent of the victims were men, and 18 percent were women.[42]On a per-capita scaled level, "the homicide rate in Africa and the Americas (at 17 and 16 per 100,000 population, respectively) is more than double the global average (6.9 per 100,000), whereas in Asia, Europe and Oceania (between 3 and 4 per 100,000) it is roughly half".[42]

In its 2013 global report, UNODC estimated the total number of homicides worldwide had dropped to 437,000 in 2012. The Americas accounted for 36 percent of all homicides globally, Africa 21 percent, Asia 38 percent, Europe five percent and Oceania 0.3%.[43]The world's average homicide rate stood at 6.2 per 100,000 population in 2012, but the Southern Africa region and Central America had intentional homicide rates four times higher than the world average. They were the most violent regions globally, outside of regions experiencing wars and religious or sociopolitical terrorism.[43]Asia exclusive of West Asia and Central Asia, Western Europe, Northern Europe, as well as Oceania had the lowest homicide rates in the world. About 41 percent of the homicides worldwide occurred in 2012 with the use of guns, 24 percent bystabbingwith sharp objects such as knife, and 35 percent by other means such as poison. The global conviction rate for the crime of intentional homicide in 2012 was 43 percent.[44]

The 2011 Global Study on Homicide reported that "[W]here homicide rates are high and firearms andorganized crimein the form ofdrug traffickingplay a substantial role, 1 in 50 men aged 20 will be murdered before they reach the age of 31. At the other, the probability of such an occurrence is up to 400 times lower. [H]omicide is much more common in countries with low levels of human development, high levels ofincome inequalityand weakrule of lawthan in moreequitable societies,where socioeconomic stability seems to be something of an antidote to homicide. In cases of intimate partner and family-related homicide cases, women murdered by their past or present male partner make up the vast majority of homicide victims worldwide. "[41]

Historic European

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Estimated homicide rates
in Europe[45]: 100 
Deaths per year
per 100,000 population
13th–14th centuries 32
15th century 41
16th century 19
17th century 11
18th century 3.2
19th century 2.6
20th century 1.4

In the mid-second millennium, local levels of violence in Europe were extremely high by the standards of modern developed countries. Typically, small groups of people would battle their neighbors using the farm tools at hand, such as knives, sickles, hammers, and axes. Mayhem and death were deliberate. The vast majority of Europeans lived in rural areas till 1800. Cities were few, and small in size, but their concentration of population was conducive to violence and their trends resembled those in rural areas.[45]Across Europe, homicide trends show a steady long-term decline.[46][47]Regional differences were small, except that Italy's decline was later and slower. From about 1200 AD through 1800 AD, homicide rates from violent local episodes, not including military actions, declined by a factor of ten, from approximately 32 deaths per 100,000 people to 3.2 per 100,000. In the 20th century, the homicide rate fell to 1.4 per 100,000. Police forces seldom existed outside the cities; prisons only became common after 1800. Before then, harsh penalties were imposed for homicide (severe whipping or execution) but they proved ineffective at controlling or reducing the insults to honor that precipitated most of the violence.[48]The decline does not correlate with economics or measures of state control. Most historians attribute the trend in homicides to a steady increase inself-controlof the sort promoted byProtestantism,and necessitated by schools and factories.[45]: 127–32 Eisner argues that macro-level indicators for societal efforts to promotecivility,self-discipline, and long-sightedness are strongly associated with fluctuations in homicide rates over the past six centuries.[49]

United States

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Homicide rates by U.S. state per 100,000 residents[50][51][52]
Homicide rate by county
Fetal homicide laws in the United States
"Homicide" or "murder"
Other crime against fetus
Depends on age of fetus
Assaulting mother
No law on feticide

In the US, theNational Violent Death Reporting Systemis a centralized database of relevant information fromdeath certificates,coronerandmedical examinerrecords, and law enforcement reports, which emerged from theNational Violent Injury Statistics System.This public health surveillance tool began collecting data in 2003 and is analyzed by theNational Center for Injury Prevention and Controlat the CDC to provide nationally representative data.

In 2020, there were 18,439 cases of single homicide (28.6% of all violent deaths) in the 48 states and DC, a rate of 6.7 per 100,000 inhabitants. There were 695 cases of multiple homicide (1%) and 571 cases (<1%) of homicide followed by suicide with an overall homicide rate of 7.5 per 100,000 population. The weapons most commonly used in homicides were firearms, used in 76.7% of homicides overall; followed by a sharp instrument (9%); a blunt instrument (3%); personal weapons (e.g., hands, feet, or fists; 2.5%); and hanging, strangulation, or suffocation (1.5%). Among all homicide victims, a house or apartment was the most common location of homicide (41%); followed by a street or highway (22%); a motor vehicle (10%); and a parking lot, public garage, or public transport (4.5%). Precipitating circumstances were identified in 69% of homicides. One-third of homicides with known circumstances were precipitated by an argument or conflict (34%), and 15% of homicides with known circumstances were related tointimate partner violence.Homicides also were commonly precipitated by another crime (23%); in 66% of those cases, the crime was in progress at the time of the incident like assault or homicide (38.9%), robbery (32.9%), drug trade (14.5%), burglary (11%), motor vehicle theft (5%), rape or sexual assault (2%). A larger proportion of homicides of females than males resulted fromcaregiver abuseor neglect (9.0% versus 2.7%) or were perpetrated by a suspect with amental health problem(e.g., schizophrenia or other psychotic conditions, depression, orposttraumatic stress disorder) (6.3% versus 1.7%). Homicide rates are known to be higher in males and in communities with concentrated poverty, stressed economies, residential instability, neighborhood disorganization, low community cohesion, and informal controls. The overall firearm homicide rate in 2020 was higher than in the last 20 years, disproportionately borne by Native Americans and Black persons. It is thought that theCOVID-19 pandemicincreased social and economic stress.[53]

See also

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References

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  11. ^ab"9.6 Manslaughter".Criminal Law: Manslaughter.University of Minnesota. 17 December 2015.Archivedfrom the original on 10 September 2017.Retrieved11 September2017.
  12. ^Slapper, Gary (1 December 1993)."Corporate Manslaughter: an Examination of the Determinants of Prosecutorial Polic"(PDF).Social & Legal Studies.2(4): 423–443.doi:10.1177/096466399300200404.S2CID1337567.Archived(PDF)from the original on 12 February 2020.Retrieved13 June2019.
  13. ^e.d. fatal accidents with alpinistsCondamnation de deux alpinistes pour « homicide involontaire »Archived5 February 2019 at theWayback MachineL’avocat du syndicat des guides dérape sur l’arête du GoûterArchived26 December 2018 at theWayback Machine
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  15. ^See, e.g., California Constitution, Art. 1, Sec. 1
  16. ^See, e.g., California Penal Code, Sec. 197.
  17. ^See the U.S. Supreme Court decision inAtkins v. Virginia.
  18. ^Vedantam, Shankar (2 January 2013)."'Stand Your Ground' Linked To Increase In Homicides ".All Things Considered.National Public Radio.Archivedfrom the original on 26 January 2018.Retrieved25 January2018.
  19. ^Sanburn, Josh (14 November 2016)."Florida's 'Stand Your Ground' Law Linked to Homicide Increase".Time.Archivedfrom the original on 23 March 2018.Retrieved25 January2018.
  20. ^Cheng, Cheng; Hoekstra, Mark (2013)."Does Strengthening Self-Defense Law Deter Crime or Escalate Violence? Evidence from Expansions to Castle Doctrine"(PDF).Journal of Human Resources.48(3): 821–854.doi:10.1353/jhr.2013.0023.S2CID14390513.Archived(PDF)from the original on 5 June 2018.Retrieved25 January2018.
  21. ^Esteban, Joan Maria; Morelli, Massimo; Rohner, Dominic (October 2015). "Strategic Mass Killings".Journal of Political Economy.123(5). Chicago, Illinois: University of Chicago Press: 1087–1132.doi:10.1086/682584.S2CID154859371.
  22. ^Schaak, Beth (2007). "The Crime of Political Genocide: Repairing the Genocide Convention's Blind Spot". In Campbell, Tom; Lattimer, Mark (eds.).Genocide and Human Rights(1st eBook ed.). London, England: Routledge. pp. 140–173.doi:10.4324/9781351157568.ISBN978-1-351-15756-8.
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  39. ^"Home >> Intentional Homicide Victims".dataUNODC.United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime.Retrieved23 October2020.
  40. ^Grinshteyn, Erin; Hemenway, David (March 2016)."Violent Death Rates: The US Compared with Other High-income OECD Countries, 2010".The American Journal of Medicine.129(3): 266–273.doi:10.1016/j.amjmed.2015.10.025.PMID26551975.(Table 4). (PDFArchived2 February 2019 at theWayback Machine).
  41. ^ab"2011 Global Study on Homicide".UNODC.United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime.2011.Archivedfrom the original on 18 December 2012.Retrieved10 May2018.
  42. ^ab"United Nations 2011 Global Study on Homicide".Journalist's Resource. Archived fromthe originalon 30 December 2011.Retrieved2 December2011.
  43. ^abUNODC,Global Study on HomicideArchived3 November 2014 at theWayback Machine2013 Report
  44. ^UNODC,Global Study on HomicideArchived3 November 2014 at theWayback Machine2013 Report, page 18
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  48. ^On the growing role of local government in reducing local feuds see Matthew H. Lockwood,Death, Justice and the State: The Coroner and the Monopoly of Violence in England, 1500–1800(2014) and hisThe Conquest of Death: Violence and the Birth of the Modern English State(2017).
  49. ^Eisner, Manuel (2014)."From Swords to Words: Does Macro-Level Change in Self-Control Predict Long-Term Variation in Levels of Homicide?".Crime and Justice.43(1): 65–134.doi:10.1086/677662.S2CID144894344.
  50. ^Homicide Mortality by State.National Center for Health Statistics.Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.
  51. ^New Hampshire.National Center for Health Statistics.Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.
  52. ^Vermont.National Center for Health Statistics.Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.
  53. ^Liu, Grace S. (2023)."Surveillance for Violent Deaths — National Violent Death Reporting System, 48 States, the District of Columbia, and Puerto Rico, 2020".MMWR. Surveillance Summaries.72(5): 1–38.doi:10.15585/mmwr.ss7205a1.ISSN1546-0738.PMC10208308.PMID37220104.S2CID258865008.

Further reading

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  • Lappi-Seppälä, Tapio, and Martti Lehti. "Cross-comparative perspectives on global homicide trends".Crime and Justice43.1 (2014): 135–230.
  • Pinker, Steven.The Better Angels of Our Nature: Why Violence Has Declined(2011).
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