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Paul Cézanne's The Murder

Crimes
Classes of crime
Infraction  · Misdemeanor  · Felony
Summary  · Indictable  · Hybrid
Against the person
Assault  · Battery
Extortion  · Harassment
Kidnapping  · Identity theft
(Corporate) Manslaughter
Murder  · Rape
Robbery
Against property
Arson  · Blackmail
Burglary  · Deception
Embezzlement  · False pretenses
Fraud  · Handling
Larceny  · Theft
Vandalism
Against the public order
Drug possession
Against the state
Tax evasion
Espionage  · Treason
Against justice
Bribery  · Misprision of felony
Obstruction  · Perjury
Malfeasance in office
Inchoate offenses
Accessory  · Attempt
Conspiracy  · Incitement
Solicitation  · Common purpose
Note: Crimes vary by jurisdiction. Not all are listed here.

Murder is the unlawful killing of a human person with malice aforethought, as defined in Common Law countries. Murder is generally distinguished from other forms of homicide by the elements of malice aforethought and the lack of lawful justification. All jurisdictions, ancient and modern, consider it a most serious crime and most impose severe penalty on its commission. Malice Aforethought is a 1931 murder mystery novel written by Anthony Berkeley Cox, using the name Francis Iles. ... This article concerns the common-law legal system, as contrasted with the civil law legal system; for other meanings of the term, within the field of law, see common law (disambiguation). ... Homicide (Latin homicidium, homo human being + caedere to cut, kill) refers to the act of killing another human being. ...

Legal analysis of murder

To repeat, a common law murder is defined as the unlawful killing of a human person with malice aforethought exists if the defendant acts with any of the following states of mind:

(i) Intent to kill; (ii) Intent to inflict serious bodily harm; (iii) Reckless indifference to an unjustifiably high risk to human life (abandoned and malignant heart); or (iv) Intent to commit a felony (felony-murder doctrine).

Under element (i) intent to kill, the deadly weapon rule applies. Thus, if the defendant intentionally uses a deadly weapon or instrument against the victim, such use authorizes a permissive inference of intent to kill. An example of a deadly weapon or instrument is a gun, a knife, or even a car when intentionally used to strike the victim.

Under element (iii) abandoned and malignant heart, the killing must result from defendant's conduct involving a reckless indifference to human life and a conscious disregard of an unreasonable risk of death or serious bodily injury. An example of this is a 2007 law in California where an individual could be convicted of second-degree murder if he or she kills another person while operating a motor vehicle while being under the influence of alcohol, drugs, or controlled substances. This article is about the U.S. state. ... For other uses, see Under the influence. ... Many drugs are provided in tablet form. ... Wikipedia does not yet have an article with this exact name. ...

Under element (iv) felony-murder doctrine, the felony committed must be an inherently dangerous felony, such as burglary, arson, rape, robbery or kidnapping. Importantly, the underlying felony cannot be a lesser-included offense such as assault, otherwise all homicides would be murder as all homicides are felonies.

Origins

Background

The neutrality of this section is disputed. Please see the discussion on the talk page. This section has been tagged since January 2008.

One of the oldest known prohibitions against murder appears in the Sumerian Code of Ur-Nammu written sometime between 2100 and 2050 BC. The code states, "If a man commits a murder, that man must be killed." Image File history File links Unbalanced_scales. ... Sumer (or Shumer, Sumeria, Shinar, native ki-en-gir) formed the southern part of Mesopotamia from the time of settlement by the Sumerians until the time of Babylonia. ... The Code of Ur-Nammu is the oldest known tablet containing a law code surviving today. ... Look up BC in Wiktionary, the free dictionary. ...

In Abrahamic religions, the prohibition against murder is one of the Ten Commandments given by God to Moses in (Exodus: 20v13) and (Deuteronomy 5v17) (See Murder in the Bible). The Vulgate and subsequent early English translations of the Bible used the term secretly killeth his neighbor or smiteth his neighbour secretly rather than murder for the Latin clam percusserit proximum.^[1][2] Abrahamic religions symbols designating the three prevalent monotheistic religions – Judaism, Christianity, and Islam Abrahamic religion is a term commonly used to designate the three prevalent monotheistic religions – Judaism, Christianity, and Islam[1][2] – which claim Abraham (Hebrew: Avraham אַבְרָהָם ; Arabic: Ibrahim ابراهيم ) as a part of their sacred history. ... For other uses, see Ten Commandments (disambiguation). ... Murder is something that occurs several times in the Bible. ... The Vulgate Bible is an early 5th century version in Latin, partly revised and partly translated by Jerome on the orders of Pope Damasus I in 382. ...

Later editions such as Young's Literal Translation and the World English Bible have translated the Latin occides simply as murder rather than the alternatives of kill, assassinate, fall upon or slay. ^[3] Youngs Literal Translation (YLT) is a translation of the Bible into English. ... The World English Bible (also known as WEB) is a public domain translation of the Bible that is currently in draft form. ...

Christian churches have some doctrinal differences about what forms of homicide are prohibited biblically, though all agree murder is.

Common law

According to Blackstone, English common law identified murder as a Public Wrong. ^[4] This article concerns the common-law legal system, as contrasted with the civil law legal system; for other meanings of the term, within the field of law, see common law (disambiguation). ...

Codification

The crime of murder was often formally codified after democratic reform in various jurisdictions, legislatures began passing statutes. A legislatureis a type of representative deliberative assembly with the power to ratify laws. ... Legislation (or statutory law) is law which has been promulgated (or enacted) by a legislature or other governing body. ...

Legal definition

As with most legal terms, the precise definition of murder varies between jurisdictions and is usually codified in some form of legislation.

In some jurisdictions, murder is a common law crime, considered so wrong that there is no need for any legislation to define it. In such jurisdictions, precedent Case law or previous decisions of the Courts of Law defines what is considered murder. This article concerns the common-law legal system, as contrasted with the civil law legal system; for other meanings of the term, within the field of law, see common law (disambiguation). ... This article is about the legal term. ...

Basic elements

In common law jurisdictions, murder has two elements or parts: This article concerns the common-law legal system, as contrasted with the civil law legal system; for other meanings of the term, within the field of law, see common law (disambiguation). ...

1. the act (actus reus) of killing a person
2. the state of mind (mens rea) of intentional, purposeful, malicious, premeditated, and/or wanton.

While murder is often expressed as the unlawful killing of another human being with "malice aforethought", this element of malice may not be required in every jurisdiction (for example, see the French definition of murder below). The actus reus — sometimes called the external element of a crime — is the Latin term for the guilty act which, when proved beyond a reasonable doubt in combination with the mens rea, i. ... The mens rea is the Latin term for guilty mind used in the criminal law. ... Malice Aforethought is a 1931 murder mystery novel written by Anthony Berkeley Cox, using the name Francis Iles. ...

• The element of malice aforethought can be satisfied by an intentional killing, which is considered express malice.
• Malice can also be implied: deaths that occur by extreme recklessness or during certain serious crimes are considered to be express malice murders.

Exclusions

• Unlawful killings without malice or intent are considered manslaughter.
• Justified or accidental killings are considered homicides. Depending on the circumstances, these may or may not be considered criminal offenses.
• Suicide is not considered murder in most societies. Assisting a suicide, however, may be considered murder in some circumstances.
• Capital punishment ordered by a legitimate court of law as the result of a conviction in a criminal trial with due process for a serious crime.
• Killing of enemy combatants by lawful combatants in accordance with lawful orders in war, although illicit killings within a war may constitute murder or homicidal war crimes. (see the Laws of war article)

Homicide (Latin homicidium, homo human being + caedere to cut, kill) refers to the act of killing another human being. ... For other uses, see Suicide (disambiguation). ... Capital punishment, or the death penalty, is the execution of a convicted criminal by the state as punishment for crimes known as capital crimes or capital offences. ... In United States law, adopted from English Law, due process (more fully due process of law) is the principle that the government must respect all of a persons legal rights instead of just some or most of those legal rights when the government deprives a person of life, liberty... A combatant (also referred to as an enemy combatant) is a soldier or guerrilla member who is waging war. ... For other uses, see War (disambiguation). ... In the context of war, a war crime is a punishable offense under International Law, for violations of the laws of war by any person or persons, military or civilian. ... The two parts of the laws of war (or Law of Armed Conflict (LOAC)): Law concerning acceptable practices while engaged in war, like the Geneva Conventions, is called jus in bello; while law concerning allowable justifications for armed force is called jus ad bellum. ...

Victim

All jurisdictions require that the victim be a natural person; that is a human being who was still alive at the time of being murdered. Most jurisdictions legally distinguish killing a fetus or unborn child as a different crime, such as illegal abortion of a fetus or the unlawful killing of an unborn child. The distinction between a fetus and an unborn child in these jurisdictions is that a child could survive if it had been born, while a fetus could not.^{[citation needed]} Human beings are defined variously in biological, spiritual, and cultural terms, or in combinations thereof. ... For other uses, see Fetus (disambiguation). ...

Mitigating circumstances

Some countries allow conditions that "affect the balance of the mind" to be regarded as mitigating circumstances. This means that a person may be found guilty of "manslaughter" on the basis of "diminished responsibility" rather than murder, if it can be proved that the killer was suffering from a condition that affected their judgment at the time. Depression, post-traumatic stress disorder and medication side-effects are examples of conditions that may be taken into account when assessing responsibility. A mitigating factor in law is any information or evidence presented to the court regarding the defendant or the circumstances of the crime than might result in reduced charges or a lesser sentence. ... On the Threshold of Eternity. ... Post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) is a term for certain severe psychological consequences of exposure to, or confrontation with, stressful events that the person experiences as highly traumatic. ... Adverse effect, in medicine, is an abnormal, harmful, undesired and/or unintended side-effect, although not necessarily unexpected, which is obtained as the result of a therapy or other medical intervention, such as drug/chemotherapy, physical therapy, surgery, medical procedure, use of a medical device, etc. ...

Insanity

Mental disorder may apply to a wide range of disorders including psychosis caused by schizophrenia and dementia, and excuse the person from the need to undergo the stress of a trial as to liability. In some jurisdictions, following the pre-trial hearing to determine the extent of the disorder, the defense of "not guilty by reason of insanity" may be used to get a not guilty verdict. ^[5] This defense has two elements: In criminal law of commonwealth countries, the defense of mental disorder - sometimes called the defence of mental illness - is a legal defence by excuse, by which a defendant may argue that they should not be held criminally liable for breaking the law, as they were at the time of their... For other uses, see Psychosis (disambiguation). ... For other uses, see Dementia (disambiguation). ...

1. That the defendant had a serious mental illness, disease, or defect.
2. That the defendant's mental condition, at the time of the killing, rendered the perpetrator unable to determine right from wrong, or that what he or she was doing was wrong. ..

Under New York law, for example: A defendant or defender is any party who is required to answer the complaint of a plaintiff or pursuer in a civil lawsuit before a court, or any party who has been formally charged or accused of violating a criminal statute. ... This article is about the state. ...

§ 40.15 Mental disease or defect. In any prosecution for an offense, it is an affirmative defense that when the defendant engaged in the proscribed conduct, he lacked criminal responsibility by reason of mental disease or defect. Such lack of criminal responsibility means that at the time of such conduct, as a result of mental disease or defect, he lacked substantial capacity to know or appreciate either: 1. The nature and consequences of such conduct; or 2. That such conduct was wrong.

Under the French Penal Code:

ARTICLE 122-1

• A person is not criminally liable who, when the act was committed, was suffering from a psychological or neuropsychological disorder which destroyed his discernment or his ability to control his actions.
• A person who, at the time he acted, was suffering from a psychological or neuropsychological disorder which reduced his discernment or impeded his ability to control his actions, remains punishable; however, the court shall take this into account when it decides the penalty and determines its regime.

Those who successfully argue a defense based on a mental disorder are usually referred to mandatory clinical treatment until they are certified safe to be released back into the community, rather than prison.^[6]

Post-partum depression

Some countries, such as Canada, Italy, the United Kingdom, New Zealand and Australia, allow post-partum depression (also known as post-natal depression) as a defense against murder of a child by a mother, provided that a child is less than a year old (this may be the specific offense of infanticide rather than murder and include the effects of lactation and other aspects of post-natal care).^{[citation needed]} After giving birth, about 70-80% of women experience an episode of baby blues, feelings of depression, anger, anxiety and guilt lasting for several days. ... In sociology and biology, infanticide is the practice of intentionally causing the death of an infant of a given species, by members of the same species - often by the mother. ...

Self defense

Acting in self defense or in defense of another person is generally accepted as legal justifications for killing a person in situations that would otherwise have been murder. However, a self defense killing might be considered manslaughter if the killer established control of the situation before the killing took place. In the case of self-defense it is called a justifiable homicide. ^[7] This article and defense of property deal with the legal concept of excused (sometimes termed justified) acts that might otherwise be illegal. ...

Unintentional

For a killing to be considered murder, there normally needs to be an element of intent. For this argument to be successful the killer generally needs to demonstrate that they took precautions not to kill and that the death could not have been anticipated or was unavoidable, whatever action they took. As a general rule, manslaughter^[8] constitutes reckless killing, while criminally negligent homicide is a grossly negligent killing.^[9] This page is a candidate for speedy deletion. ...

Diminished capacity

In those jurisdictions using the Uniform Penal Code, such as California, diminished capacity may be a defense. For example, Dan White used this defense ^[10] to obtain a manslaughter conviction, instead of murder, in the assassination of Mayor George Moscone and Supervisor Harvey Milk.^{[citation needed]} This article is about the U.S. state. ... In jurisprudence, diminished responsibility (or diminished capacity) is a defense by excuse via which a defendant argues that that although they broke the law, they should not be held criminally liable for doing so, as their mental functions were diminished or impaired. ... This article is about the San Francisco Supervisor. ... Assassin and Assassins redirect here. ... Mayor Moscone George Richard Moscone (November 24, 1929 – November 27, 1978) was the mayor of San Francisco, California from January 1976 until his assassination in November 1978. ... For other uses, see Harvey Milk (disambiguation). ...

Year-and-a-day rule

Main article: Year and a day rule

In some common law jurisdictions, a defendant accused of murder is not guilty if the victim survives for longer than one year and one day after the attack. This reflects the likelihood that if the victim dies, other factors will have contributed to the cause of death, breaking the chain of causation. Subject to any statute of limitations, the accused could still be charged with an offense representing the seriousness of the initial assault. The year and a day rule was a principle of English law holding that a death was conclusively presumed not to be murder (or any other homicide) if it occurred more than a year and one day since the act (or omission) that was alleged to have been its cause. ... This article concerns the common-law legal system, as contrasted with the civil law legal system; for other meanings of the term, within the field of law, see common law (disambiguation). ... A defendant or defender is any party who is required to answer the complaint of a plaintiff or pursuer in a civil lawsuit before a court, or any party who has been formally charged or accused of violating a criminal statute. ... The year and a day rule was a principle of English law holding that a death was conclusively presumed not to be murder (or any other homicide) if it occurred more than a year and one day since the act (or omission) that was alleged to have been its cause. ... Causation is the bringing about of a result, and in law it is an element in various tests for legal liability. ... A statute of limitations is a statute in a common law legal system that sets forth the maximum period of time, after certain events, that legal proceedings based on those events may be initiated. ...

Abolition of the rule

With advances in modern medicine, most countries have abandoned a fixed time period and test causation on the facts of the case.

In the UK, due to medical advancements, the "year-and-a-day-rule" is no longer in use. However, if the death occurs three years after the original attack, then the Attorney-General's approval/permission will need to be granted before prosecutions can take place after a three year period has expired. In most common law jurisdictions, the Attorney General or Attorney-General is the main legal adviser to the government, and in some jurisdictions may in addition have executive responsibility for law enforcement or responsibility for public prosecutions. ...

In the United States, many jurisdictions have abolished the rule as well. Abolition of the rule has been accomplished by enactment of statutory criminal codes, which had the effect of displacing the common-law definitions of crimes and corresponding defenses. In 2001, the Supreme Court of the United States held that retroactive application of a state supreme court decision abolishing the year-and-a-day rule did not violate the Ex Post Facto Clause of Article I of the United States Constitution. ^[11] The Supreme Court of the United States (sometimes colloquially referred to by the acronym SCOTUS[1]) is the highest judicial body in the United States and leads the federal judiciary. ... An ex post facto law (from the Latin for from something done afterward) or retroactive law, is a law that retroactively changes the legal consequences of acts committed or the legal status of facts and relationships that existed prior to the enactment of the law. ... Wikisource has original text related to this article: Article One of the United States Constitution Article One of the United States Constitution describes the powers of the legislative branch of the United States government, known as Congress, which includes the House of Representatives and the Senate. ...

Demographics

An estimated 520,000 people were murdered in 2000 around the globe. Two-fifths of them were young people between the ages of 10 and 29 who were killed by other young people.^[12]

Murder rate per 100,000 inhabitants in 2004

Murder rates vary greatly among countries and societies around the world. In the Western world, murder rates in most countries have declined significantly during the 20th century and are now between 1-4 cases per 100,000 people per year. Murder rates in Japan, Ireland and Iceland are among the lowest in the world, around 0.5; the rate of the United States is among the highest of developed countries, around 5.5 in 2004,^[13] with rates in larger cities sometimes over 40 per 100,000.^[14] Image File history File links Map-world-murder-rate. ... Image File history File links Map-world-murder-rate. ... This article is being considered for deletion in accordance with Wikipedias deletion policy. ... Occident redirects here. ... A developed country is a country that has achieved (currently or historically) a high degree of industrialization, and which enjoys the higher standards of living which wealth and technology make possible. ...

Within the Western world, nearly 90% of all murders are committed by males, with males also being the victims of 74.6% of murders (according the US Department of Justice). There is a sharp peak in the age distribution of murderers between the ages of 17 and 30. People become decreasingly likely to commit a murder as they age. Incidents of children and adolescents committing murders are also extremely rare, notwithstanding the strong media coverage such cases receive. The United States Department of Justice (DOJ) is a Cabinet department in the United States government designed to enforce the law and defend the interests of the United States according to the law and to ensure fair and impartial administration of justice for all Americans. ...

There are an estimated 55,000 murders in Brazil every year^[15], about 30,000 murders committed annually in Russia, approximately 25,000 murders in Colombia (in 2005, murders went down to 15,000^[16]), approximately 20,000 murders each year in South Africa, approximately 17,000 murders in the United States (666,160 murders from 1960 to 1996)^[17], approximately 15,000 murders in Mexico, approximately 11,000 murders in Venezuela, approximately 6,000 murders in El Salvador, approximately 1,600 murders in Jamaica^[18], approximately 1000 murders in France, approximately 580 murders per year in Canada^[19], and approximately 200 murders in Chile.^[20] The murder rate in Port Moresby, Papua New Guinea is 23 times that of London.^[21] Downtown Port Moresby Port Moresby (IPA: ), or Pot Mosbi in Tok Pisin, population 255,000 (2000), is the capital of Papua New Guinea. ... This article is about the capital of England and the United Kingdom. ...

Murder demographics are affected by the improvement of trauma care, leading to reduced lethality of violent assaults - thus the murder rate may not necessarily indicate the overall level of social violence.^[22]

Development of murder rates over time in different countries is often used by both supporters and opponents of capital punishment and gun control. Using properly filtered data, it is possible to make the case for or against either of these issues. For example, one could look at murder rates in the United States from 1950 to 2000,^[23] and notice that those rates went up sharply shortly after a moratorium on death sentences was effectively imposed in the late 1960s. This fact has been used to argue that capital punishment serves as a deterrent and, as such, it is morally justified. Capital punishment opponents frequently counter that the United States has much higher murder rates than Canada and most European Union countries, although all those countries have abolished the death penalty. Gun control advocates further point out that, unlike the United States, many European countries disallow gun ownership by private citizens but Switzerland has the least restrictive firearm laws and corresponding higher gun murder deaths. Canada introduced a comprehensive Firearms Certificate program in 1977, which was followed by a sharp decline in its homicide rate (and its firearm homicide rate) however firearm homicide rates have crept back up to pre-1977 levels by 2005 even though the overall rate remains less. Overall, the global pattern is too complex and, on average, the influence of both these factors may not be significant and could be more social, economic and cultural. Capital punishment, or the death penalty, is the execution of a convicted criminal by the state as punishment for crimes known as capital crimes or capital offences. ... It has been suggested that this article or section be merged into Gun politics. ... Capital punishment is a controversial issue in the United States and, indeed, in most of the world, with many prominent organizations and individuals participating in the debate. ...

Country-specific murder law

Australia

Murder is defined in the New South Wales (NSW) Crimes Act 1900 as follows: NSW redirects here. ... This article is under construction. ...

SECTION 18 1) a) Murder shall be taken to have been committed where the act of the accused, or thing by him or her omitted to be done, causing the death charged, was done or omitted with reckless indifference to human life, or with intent to kill or inflict grievous bodily harm upon some person, or done in an attempt to commit, or during or immediately after the commission, by the accused, or some accomplice with him or her, of a crime...^[24]

Under NSW law, the maximum penalty for murder is life imprisonment with a standard non-parole period of 20 years. Attempted murder (sections 27-30 of the Crimes Act) attracts a maximum penalty of 25 years imprisonment. Note that in order to be guilty of murder under the NSW Crimes Act, intent to cause grievous bodily harm is enough to secure a conviction for murder, as is 'felony murder' (constructive murder in Australia).

There is a statutory defence of provocation in NSW law - Section 23 of the Crimes Act, if provocation is proven and the person would have otherwise been convicted of murder, directs the jury to find the defendant not guilty of murder but guilty of manslaughter. However, this is not the case in Victoria - the Crimes Act 1958 (VIC), in Section 3B, states:

The rule of law that provocation reduces the crime of murder to manslaughter is abolished.^[25]

Under Victorian law, it is illegal to kill, by unlawful means, an unborn child that is capable of being born alive. ^[26] This offence is termed child destruction in the Act. For example, if Person A assaulted Person B with intent to kill B's unborn child, Person A is guilty of child destruction and assault - and thus would be liable, under Victorian law to 15 years imprisonment for child destruction plus 5 years imprisonment for assault.

In any legislature within Australia, the maximum penalty for murder is life imprisonment. NSW law follows the 'life means life' construction ^[27]; therefore the maximum sentence is life without possibility of parole.

Canada

As defined in the Criminal Code of Canada, murder is considered one type of culpable homicide, distinguished from the offences of manslaughter or infanticide. ^[28] The Canadian Criminal Code (formal title An Act respecting the Criminal Law) is the codification of most of the criminal offenses and procedure in Canada. ... In sociology and biology, infanticide is the practice of intentionally causing the death of an infant of a given species, by members of the same species - often by the mother. ...

First and second degree

In Canada, murder is classified as either first or second degree.^[29]

1. First degree murder is a murder which is (1) planned and deliberate, (2) contracted, (3) committed against an identified peace officer, (4) while committing or attempting to commit one of the following offences (hijacking an aircraft, sexual assault, sexual assault with a weapon, aggravated sexual assault, kidnapping and forcible confinement or hostage taking), (5) while committing criminal harassment, (6) committed during terrorist activity, (7) while using explosives in association with a criminal organization, or (8) while committing intimidation. ^[30]
2. Second degree murder is all murder which is not first degree murder.

In the broad sense a peace officer is any public sector person charged to uphold the peace. ...

Manslaughter and infanticide

1. Manslaughter is any culpable homicide which is not murder or infanticide. To kill someone with a deadly weapon, or may not be so.^[31]

2. Infanticide is the killing of a newly-born child by its mother where the mother's mind was disturbed as a result of giving birth or of consequent lactation. It is a type of homicide but is excluded from murder.^[32]

Penalties

The maximum penalties for murder are:

1. first degree murder - mandatory life imprisonment without the possibility of parole for 25 years (can be paroled under the Faint-Hope Clause after 15 years imprisonment, but such a reduction is rarely given and is not available for multiple murders)
2. second degree murder - mandatory life imprisonment without the possibility of parole for 10-25 years (parole eligibility determined by the judge at sentencing) (exception: if the person had committed another murder in their past, parole eligibility is 25 years)

There is a clause where persons convicted of any "personal injury offence" meeting the statutory criteria to be declared a "dangerous offender." A dangerous offender is sentenced for an indeterminate period of imprisonment and is eligible for parole after serving at least 7 years. An offender convicted of 1st or 2nd degree murder is ineligible to be declared a dangerous offender. However, an offender convicted of manslaughter can be declared a dangerous offender. In Canada, the so-called Faint-Hope Clause (Section 745. ...

Any sentence imposed in addition to a life sentence must be concurrent.

Statistics

In Canada there are about 2.6 attempted murders per 100,000 population in 2006. ^[33] Attempted murder carries the same consequences as murder itself; it is the intent, not the result, that determines the sentence.

In 2006 the homicide rate in Canada was 1.85 per 100,000 people or approximately 604 homicides per year. Of these victims, 442 were male, 162 were female.^[34] The rate has remained close to stable for the past 10 years. This is equivalent to numbers in most of the western world, except the U.S. which has almost triple the number per capita.^{[citation needed]} The main methods of murder in Canada are shootings (30%), stabbings (30%), and beatings (22%).

About 170 Canadians homicides per year (excluding unsolved cases) are committed by a family member, of which 63 were by husbands, 16 by wives, 42 by parents, 19 by children and 9 by siblings. ^[35]

One in six homicides in 2006 was gang related according to police reports.^[36]About 75% of 2006 homicides in Canada had been caught by 2007.^[36]

Wales and England

Further information: murder in English law

Statistics show that there were 859 homicides in Wales and England in one year (April 2004- March 2005, [1]). This is low compared to the United States with 16,137 murders in 2004 [2], however these are numbers which do not take different population sizes into account: a better perspective can be gained by comparing murders per year to population (1.6 murders for every hundred thousand people in England and Wales, 5.5 in the USA, and 62 in Colombia - source). Because the newspaper coverage tends to focus on the more lurid or controversial cases (e.g. Tony Martin), there is considerable public misunderstanding as to the actual law. The Law Commission Final Report on Partial Defences to Murder (2004) [3] commissioned research to determine the extent of this misunderstanding and reported at 2.35: In English law, murder is considered the most serious form of homicide where one person kills another either intending to cause death or intending to cause serious injury in a situation where death is virtually certain (originally termed malice aforethought even though it requires neither malice nor premeditation). ... This article is about the country. ... For other uses, see England (disambiguation). ... Anthony Edward Martin (born 1944) is a Norfolk farmer and cause célèbre as a result of his action in shooting two burglars who were robbing his home; he was convicted of murder and sentenced to life in prison, but his conviction was reduced to manslaughter on appeal. ...

The notion that all murders, as the law is presently framed, represent instances of a uniquely heinous offence for which a single uniquely severe penalty is justified does not reflect the views of a cross section of the public when asked to reflect on particular cases.

Although the sample was small, the research showed that the public accepts a range of culpability within the definition of murder and so rejects the idea of a single mandatory life sentence. The Report also lists all the main European and common law definitions for homicide at 2.53/2.54.

In English law, the definition of murder is: English law is a formal term of art that describes the law for the time being in force in England and Wales. ...

The unlawful killing of a human being, under the Queen's Peace, with "malice aforethought").

Contrast this with the original definition by Sir Edward Coke CJ in 1597 of: Malice Aforethought is a 1931 murder mystery novel written by Anthony Berkeley Cox, using the name Francis Iles. ... Sir Edward Coke Sir Edward Coke (pronounced cook) (1 February 1552 - 3 September 1634) was an early English colonial entrepreneur and jurist whose writings on the English common law were the definitive legal texts for some 300 years. ...

Murder is when a man of sound memory, and of the age of discretion, unlawfully killeth within any country of the realm any reasonable creature in rerum natura under the King's peace, with malice aforethought, either expressed by the party or implied by law, so as the party wounded, or hurt, etc. die of the wound or hurt, etc. within a year and a day after the same.

Note that it is no longer necessary for the victim to die within a year and a day of the offence,^[37] nor for the victim to be a reasonable creature.

Specific statutory instances of situations where death is caused are:

• Infanticide - Under s1 Infanticide Act 1938, the intentional killing of an infant under 1-year-old by a mother suffering from post-natal depression or other post-natal disturbance represents an early form of diminished responsibility defence and
• Causing death by dangerous driving (of a motor vehicle) was introduced because jurors, many of whom were drivers, thought the charge of manslaughter to carry too great a level of stigma for the degree of fault actually shown by some drivers and refused to convict when the charge was manslaughter. Now motor manslaughter is considered an acceptable charge for the more seriously dangerous examples of driving resulting in death, with aggravated TWOC for the least seriously dangerous driving resulting in death.

The aggravated form of criminal damage, including arson, under s1(2) Criminal Damage Act 1971 could be the anticipatory offence rather than a charge of attempted murder. In sociology and biology, infanticide is the practice of intentionally causing the death of an infant of a given species, by members of the same species - often by the mother. ... For the law in other criminal jurisdictions, see diminished responsibility. ...