Murder, as defined in common law Common law is law developed by judges through decisions of courts and similar tribunals , rather than through legislative statutes or executive branch action. A "common law system" is a legal system that gives great precedential weight to common law, on the principle that it is unfair to treat similar facts differently on different countries, is the unlawful killing of another human being with intent Intent in law is the planning and desire to perform an act, to fail to do so or to achieve a state of affairs in psychological view it may mean a different thing (or malice aforethought Specifically in the criminal law, malice aforethought is the element of mens rea (Latin for "guilty mind") which must accompany the actus reus of death, in order to secure a conviction for murder under the common law. In other words, knowledge that through an action or omission, the result will be someone's death), and generally this state of mind distinguishes murder from other forms of unlawful homicide Homicide refers to the act of a human killing a human being. A common form of homicide, for example, would be murder. It can also describe a person who has committed such an act, though this use is rare in modern English. Homicide is not always a punishable act under the criminal law, and is different than a murder from such formal legal point of (such as manslaughter The law generally differentiates between levels of criminal culpability based on the mens rea, or state of mind. This is particularly true within the law of homicide, where murder requires either the intent to kill - a state of mind called malice, or malice aforethought - or the knowledge that one's actions are likely to result in death;). As the loss of a human being inflicts enormous grief upon the individuals close to the victim, as well as the fact that the commission of a murder is highly detrimental to the good order within society, most societies both present and in antiquity have considered it a most serious crime worthy of the harshest of punishment. In the US, a person convicted of murder is typically given a life sentence Life imprisonment is a sentence of imprisonment for a serious crime under which the convicted person is to remain in prison for the rest of his or her life. Examples of crimes for which a person could receive this sentence include murder, high treason, severe or violent cases of drug dealing or human trafficking, or aggravated cases of burglary or or even the death penalty Capital punishment, or the death penalty, is the execution of a person by judicial process as a punishment for an offense. Crimes that can result in a death penalty are known as capital crimes or capital offences. The term capital originates from Latin capitalis, literally "regarding the head" . Hence, a capital crime was originally one for such an act. In other western countries the punishment is generally much more lenient. A person who commits murder is called a murderer ;^[1] the term murderess, meaning a woman who murders, has largely fallen into disuse.^{[2][dubious – discuss]}

Legal analysis of murder

William Blackstone Sir William Blackstone was an English judge, jurist and professor who produced the historical and analytic treatise on the common law entitled Commentaries on the Laws of England, first published in four volumes over 1765–1769. It had an extraordinary success, reportedly bringing the author £14,000, and still remains an important source on (citing Edward Coke Sir Edward Coke (1 February 1552 – 3 September 1634) was a seventeenth-century English jurist and Member of Parliament whose writings on the common law were the definitive legal texts for nearly 150 years. Born into a family of minor Norfolk gentry, Coke travelled to London as a young man to make his living as a barrister. There he rapidly), in his Commentaries on the Laws of England The Commentaries on the Laws of England are an influential 18th-century treatise on the common law of England by Sir William Blackstone, originally published by the Clarendon Press at Oxford, 1765-1769 set out the common law Common law is law developed by judges through decisions of courts and similar tribunals , rather than through legislative statutes or executive branch action. A "common law system" is a legal system that gives great precedential weight to common law, on the principle that it is unfair to treat similar facts differently on different definition of murder as

The first few elements are relatively straightforward; however, the concept of "malice aforethought" is a complex one that does not necessarily mean premeditation. The following states of mind are recognized as constituting the various forms of "malice aforethought":

1. Intent to kill,
2. Intent to inflict grievous bodily harm Grievous bodily harm is a term of art used in English criminal law which has become synonymous with the offences that are created by sections 18 and 20 of the Offences against the Person Act 1861. This article is about those offences short of death,
3. Reckless indifference to an unjustifiably high risk to human life (sometimes described as an "abandoned and malignant heart"), or
4. Intent to commit a dangerous felony A felony is a serious crime in the common law countries, and the United States retains this law. The term originates from English common law where felonies were originally crimes which involved the confiscation of a convicted person's land and goods; other crimes were called misdemeanors. Many common law countries have now abolished the felony/ (the "felony-murder" doctrine).

Under state of mind (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 state of mind (iii), an "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 California's geography ranges from the Pacific coast to the Sierra Nevada mountain range in the east, to Mojave desert areas in the southeast and the Redwood–Douglas fir forests of the northwest. The center of the state is dominated by the Central Valley, one of the most productive agricultural areas in the world. California is the most where an individual could be convicted of third-degree murder if he or she kills another person while operating a motor vehicle while being under the influence Driving under the influence of alcohol or other drugs, is the act of operating a vehicle (including bicycle, boat, airplane, wheelchair, or tractor) after consuming alcohol or other drugs. It is a criminal offense in most countries of alcohol, drugs A drug, broadly speaking, is any substance that, when absorbed into the body of a living organism, alters normal bodily function. There is no single, precise definition, as there are different meanings in drug control law, government regulations, medicine, and colloquial usage, or controlled substances A controlled substance is generally a drug or chemical whose manufacture, possession, and use are regulated by a government. This may include illegal drugs and prescription medications.

Under state of mind (iv), the 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 A lesser included offense, in criminal law, is a crime for which all of the elements necessary to impose liability are also elements found in a more serious crime such as assault, otherwise all criminal homicides would be murder as all are felonies.

Many jurisdictions divide murder by degrees. The most common divisions are between first and second degree murder. Generally second degree murder is common law murder with first degree being an aggravated form. The aggravating factors that distinguish first degree murder from second degree are first degree murder requires a specific intent to kill and premeditation and deliberation.

Origins

Murder in religion

One of the oldest known prohibitions against murder appears in the Sumerian Code of Ur-Nammu The Code of Ur-Nammu is the oldest known tablet containing a law code surviving today. It was written in the Sumerian language ca. 2100-2050 BC. Although the preface directly credits the laws to king Ur-Nammu of Ur , some historians think they should rather be ascribed to his son Shulgi written sometime between 2100 and 2050 BC Anno Domini and Before Christ (abbreviated as BC or B.C.) are designations used to label years in the Julian and Gregorian calendars. The calendar era to which they refer is based on the traditionally reckoned year of the conception or birth of Jesus, with AD denoting years after the start of this epoch, and BC denoting years before the start of. The code states, "If a man commits a murder, that man must be killed."^{[citation needed]}

In Abrahamic religions The Abrahamic religions are historically the world's three primary monotheistic faiths of Judaism, Christianity, and Islam, which share a common origin and values. The origins of Abrahamic religion are found in Judaism, which began in the first and second millenium BCE in ancient Israel and Judah during which time the Hebrew Bible was composed, the prohibition against murder is one of the Ten Commandments The Ten Commandments, or Decalogue , is a list of religious and moral imperatives that, according to the Hebrew Bible, were spoken by God (referred to using several names) to the people of Israel from the mountain referred to as Mount Sinai or Horeb, and later authored by God and given to or written by Moses in the form of two stone tablets. They given by God to Moses in (Exodus: 20v13) and (Deuteronomy 5v17) (See Murder in the Bible Retzach is a Hebrew term, which describes a certain death-bringing activity, and whose exact translation is disputed. One of the more well known items in the Ethical Decalogue is the rule thou shalt not [retzach]; most commonly this rule is translated thou shalt not kill, but a number of individuals, particularly in Judaism and fundamentalist). The Vulgate The Vulgate is a late 4th-century Latin version of the Bible, and largely the result of the labors of Jerome, who was commissioned by Pope Damasus I in 382 to make a revision of the old Latin translations. By the 13th century this revision had come to be called the versio vulgata, that is, the "commonly used translation", and ultimately 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.^[4][5]

Later editions such as Young's Literal Translation In the beginning of God's preparing the heavens and the earth — the earth hath existed waste and void, and darkness on the face of the deep, and the Spirit of God fluttering on the face of the waters, and God saith, "Let light be;" and light is and the World English Bible In the beginning God created the heavens and the earth. Now the earth was formless and empty. Darkness was on the surface of the deep. God's Spirit was hovering over the surface of the waters. God said, "Let there be light," and there was light have translated the Latin occides simply as murder rather than the alternatives of kill, assassinate, fall upon or slay.^{[citation needed]} Christian churches have some doctrinal differences about what forms of homicide are prohibited biblically, though all agree murder is.^{[citation needed]}

In Islam according to the Qur’an, one of the greatest sins is to kill a human being who has committed no fault. "For that cause We decreed for the Children of Israel that whosoever killeth a human being for other than manslaughter or corruption in the earth, it shall be as if he had killed all mankind, and whoso saveth the life of one, it shall be as if he had saved the life of all mankind."^{[Qur'an The Qur’an is the central religious verbal text of Islam, also sometimes transliterated as Quran, Koran, Qur’ān, or Al-Qur’ān. Muslims believe the Qur’an to be the verbal book of divine guidance and direction for mankind. Muslims also consider the original Arabic verbal text to be the final revelation of God 5:32]} "Those who invoke not, with Allah, any other god, nor slay such life as Allah has made sacred except for just cause, nor commit fornication; - and any that does this (not only) meets punishment. "^{[Qur'an The Qur’an is the central religious verbal text of Islam, also sometimes transliterated as Quran, Koran, Qur’ān, or Al-Qur’ān. Muslims believe the Qur’an to be the verbal book of divine guidance and direction for mankind. Muslims also consider the original Arabic verbal text to be the final revelation of God 25:68]}

The term 'Assassin' derives from Hashshashin The Hashshashin , was the Persian designation of the Nizari branch of the Ismā'īlī Shia Muslims during the Middle Ages. The Nizari, or Hashshashin, as they were designated by their enemies, split from the Isma'ili Fatimid Empire following a dispute regarding the succession of their spiritual and political leader the Fatimid Caliph Ma'ad al-,^[6] a militant Ismaili Ismāʿīlism is a branch of Shia Islam. It is the second largest sect of Shiaism, after the mainstream Twelvers (Ithnāʿashariyya). The Ismāʿīlī get their name from their acceptance of Ismāʿīl ibn Jaʿfar as the divinely appointed spiritual successor (Imām) to Jaʿfar aṣ-Ṣādiq, wherein they differ from the Twelvers, who accept Mūsà Shi-ite sect, active from the eighth to the fourteenth centuries. This mystic secret society Secret society is a term used to describe clubs or organisations in which the activities and inner functioning of those societies is concealed from non-members. The society may or may not attempt to conceal its existence. The term usually excludes covert groups, such as intelligence agencies or guerrilla insurgencies, which hide their activities killed members of the Abbasid The Abbasid Caliphate was the third of the Islamic Caliphates of the Islamic Empire [disambiguation needed]. It was ruled by the Abbasid dynasty of caliphs, who built their capital in Baghdad after overthrowing the Umayyad caliphs from all but Al Andalus, Fatimid The Fatimid Caliphate or al-Fātimiyyūn was an Arab Shi'a Muslim caliphate centered in Egypt that ruled over varying areas of the Maghreb, Sicily, Malta,the Levant, and Hijaz from 5 January 909 to 1171. The caliphate was ruled by the Fatimids, who were basedly originally in the Tunisian city of Mahdia, before establishing the Egyptian city of, Seljuq The Seljuq were a Turco-Persian Sunni Muslim dynasty that ruled parts of Central Asia and the Middle East from the 11th to 14th centuries. They set up an empire, the Great Seljuq Empire, which at its height stretched from Anatolia through Persia and which was the target of the First Crusade. The dynasty had its origins in the Turcoman tribal and Crusader Since the Middle Ages, wars sanctioned by the Roman Catholic Church undertaken in pursuance of a vow, and directed against infidels, i.e. against Muslims, pagans, heretics, or those under the ban of excommunication, have been called Crusades. The specific crusades to restore Christian control of the Holy Land were fought over a period of nearly 200 élite for political and religious reasons.^[7] The Thuggee Thuggee (from Hindi ठग ṭhag ‘thief’, from Sanskrit स्थग sthaga ‘cunning’, ‘sly’, ‘fraudulent’, ‘dishonest’, ‘scoundrel’, from स्थगति sthagati ‘he conceals’) is the term for a particular kind of murder and robbery of travellers in India cult that plagued India India, officially the Republic of India , is a country in South Asia. It is the seventh-largest country by geographical area, the second-most populous country with 1.18 billion people, and the most populous democracy in the world. Mainland India is bounded by the Indian Ocean on the south, the Arabian Sea on the west, and the Bay of Bengal on the was devoted to Kali Kali , also known as Kalika (Bengali: কালিকা, Kālikā), is the Hindu goddess associated with eternal energy. The name Kali comes from Kāla which means black, time, death, lord of death, Shiva. Kali means "the black one". Since Shiva is called Kāla - the eternal time, Kālī, his consort, also means "the Time" or &, the goddess of death and destruction.^[8][9] According to the Guinness Book of Records Guinness World Records, known until 2000 as The Guinness Book of Records , is a reference book published annually, containing a collection of world records, both human achievements and the extremes of the natural world. The book itself held a world record, as the best-selling copyrighted series of all-time. It is also one of the most stolen books the Thuggee cult was responsible for approximately 2 million deaths. According to Ross Hassig Ross Hassig is an American historical anthropologist specialising in Mesoamerican studies, particularly the Aztec culture. His focus is often on the description of practical infrastructure in Mesoamerican societies. He is the author of several influential books, among them: Time, History, and Belief in Aztec and Colonial Mexico; Aztec Warfare:, author of Aztec Warfare, "between 10,000 and 80,400 persons" were sacrificed Human Sacrifice is the act of killing one or more human beings as part of a religious ritual . Its typology closely parallels the various practices of ritual slaughter of animals (animal sacrifice) and of religious sacrifice in general. Human sacrifice has been practiced in various cultures throughout history. Victims were typically ritually in the 1487 re-consecration of the Great Pyramid of Tenochtitlan The Templo Mayor was one of the main temples of the Aztecs in their capital city of Tenochtitlan, which is now Mexico City. Its architectural style belongs to the late Postclassic period of Mesoamerica. The temple was called the huey teocalli in the Nahuatl language and dedicated simultaneously to two gods, Huitzilopochtli, god of war and Tlaloc,.^[10][11][12]

Codification

The crime of murder was often formally codified after democratic reform in various jurisdictions, when legislatures A legislature is a type of deliberative assembly with the power to pass, amend, and repeal laws. The law created by a legislature is called legislation or statutory law. Legislatures are known by many names, the most common being parliament and congress, although these terms also have more specific meanings. In parliamentary systems of government, began passing statutes Legislation is law which has been promulgated (or "enacted") by a legislature or other governing body, or the process of making it. (Another source of law is judge-made law or case law.) Before an item of legislation becomes law it may be known as a bill, and may be broadly referred to as "legislation" while it remains under.

Legal definition

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

At common law

According to Blackstone, English common law Common law is law developed by judges through decisions of courts and similar tribunals , rather than through legislative statutes or executive branch action. A "common law system" is a legal system that gives great precedential weight to common law, on the principle that it is unfair to treat similar facts differently on different identified murder as a public wrong.^[13] At common law, murder is considered to be malum in se Malum in se is a Latin phrase meaning wrong or evil in itself. This concept is a part of the value consensus model explanation of the origins of the criminal law. The phrase is used to refer to conduct assessed as inherently wrong by nature, independent of regulations governing the conduct. It is distinguished from malum prohibitum, which is wrong, that is an act which is evil within itself. An act such as murder is wrong/evil by its very nature. And it is the very nature of the act which does not require any specific detailing or definition in the law to consider murder a crime.^[14]

Some jurisdictions still take a common law Common law is law developed by judges through decisions of courts and similar tribunals , rather than through legislative statutes or executive branch action. A "common law system" is a legal system that gives great precedential weight to common law, on the principle that it is unfair to treat similar facts differently on different view of murder. In such jurisdictions, precedent In common law legal systems, a precedent or authority is a legal case establishing a principle or rule that a court or other judicial body may utilize when deciding subsequent cases with similar issues or facts case law or previous decisions of the courts of law defines what is considered murder. However, it tends to be rare and the majority of jurisdictions have some statutory prohibition against murder.

Basic elements

In common law Common law is law developed by judges through decisions of courts and similar tribunals , rather than through legislative statutes or executive branch action. A "common law system" is a legal system that gives great precedential weight to common law, on the principle that it is unfair to treat similar facts differently on different jurisdictions, murder has two elements or parts:

1. the specific act (actus reus Actus reus, sometimes called the external element or the objective 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, "guilty mind", produces criminal liability in the common law-based criminal law jurisdictions of Canada, Australia, India,) 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 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 any recklessness or during certain serious crimes are considered to be implied 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)
• The administration of lethal drugs by a doctor to a terminally ill patient, if the intention is solely to alleviate pain, is seen in many jurisdictions as a special case (see the doctrine of double effect and the case of Dr John Bodkin Adams).^[15]
• In some cases, killing a person who is attempting to kill another can be classified as self-defense and thus, not murder.

Self-defense

Acting in self-defense or in defense of another person is generally accepted as legal justification 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.^[16]

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. In other words, under the law, one cannot murder a cadaver, a corporation, a non-human animal, or any other non-human organism.

California's murder statute, Penal Code Section 187, was interpreted by the Supreme Court of California in 1994 as not requiring any proof of the viability of the fetus as a prerequisite to a murder conviction.^[17] This holding has two peculiar^{[says who?]} implications. The first is that a defendant in California can be convicted for murdering a fetus which the mother herself could legally abort under the framework established in Roe v. Wade (1973).^[17] However, only the woman's right to abort and thereby kill the fetus before the third trimester is constitutionally protected by Roe v. Wade (1973) and therefore although this nullifies the effect of any federal or state legislation criminalizing abortion of a fetus before that point, it does not apply to other persons who kill the fetus. The even stranger part of this holding, as pointed out by Justice Stanley Mosk in dissent, is that a nonviable fetus may be so small, and thus not externally visible, that a defendant can be convicted of intentionally murdering a person he did not even know existed.^[17]

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.

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.^[18] This defense has two elements:

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:

§ 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.^[19]

Post-partum depression

Some countries, such as Canada, Italy, Norway, Sweden, the United Kingdom, New Zealand and Australia, allow postpartum 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 two years 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]}

In 2009, Texas state representative Jessica Farrar proposed similar rules for her home state.^[20]

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^[21] constitutes reckless killing, while criminally negligent homicide is a grossly negligent killing.^[22]

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^[23] to obtain a manslaughter conviction, instead of murder, in the assassination of Mayor George Moscone and Supervisor Harvey Milk.

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 offence representing the seriousness of the initial assault.

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 death occurs three years or more after the original attack then prosecution can take place only with the Attorney-General's approval.

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.^[24]

In Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, a 74-year-old man, William Barnes, was acquitted of murder charges on May 24, 2010. He was on trial for murder for the death of Philadelphia police officer Walter Barkley. Barnes shot Barkley on November 27, 1966, and served 16 years in prison for attempted murder. Barkley died on August 19, 2007, allegedly from complications of the wounds suffered nearly 41 years earlier.^[25]

Serial Killers

The United States does not have any specific guidelines for sentencing serial killers. Upon capture, they are tried for each murder they are accountable for, and any other charges including mutilation and necrophilia. Punishment for multiple murders varies from state to state; anything from a single life sentences to multiple death sentences.

Epidemiology

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.^[26]

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,^[27] with rates in larger cities sometimes over 40 per 100,000.^[28]

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 United States Department of Justice).^{[citation needed]} There is a sharp peak in the age distribution of murderers between the ages of 17 and 30.^{[citation needed]} People become less likely to commit a murder as they age. Incidents of children and adolescents committing murders are also extremely rare.^{[citation needed]}

The following absolute murder counts per-country are not comparable because they are not adjusted by each country's total population. Nonetheless, they are included here for reference. There are an estimated 55,000 murders in Brazil every year,^[29] about 30,000 murders committed annually in the early 2000s (down to 17000 in 2009) Russia, approximately 16,000 ^[30] murders in Colombia in 2009 (the murder rate was 36 per 100,000 people, in 2005 murders went down to 15,000^[31]), approximately 20,000 murders each year in South Africa, approximately 17,000 murders in the United States (666,160 murders from 1960 to 1996),^[32] 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,^[33] approximately 1,000 murders in France, approximately 580 murders per year in Canada,^[34] and approximately 200 murders in Chile.^[35] The murder rate in Port Moresby, Papua New Guinea is 23 times that of London.^[36] 32,719 murder cases were registered across India in 2007. Pakistan reported 9,631 murders.^[37]

Murder is the leading cause of death for African American males aged 15 – 34. In 2006, FBI's Supplementary Homicide Report indicated that most of the 14,990 murder victims were Black (7421).^[38] In the year 2007 non-negligent homicides, there were 3,221 black victims and 3,587 white victims. While 2,905 of the black victims were killed by a black offender, 2,918 of the white victims were killed by white offenders. There were 566 white victims of black offenders and 245 black victims of white offenders.^[39] It should be noted that the "white" category in the Uniform Crime Reports (UCR) includes non-black Hispanics.^[40] In London in 2006, 75% of the victims of gun crime and 79% of the suspects were "from the African/Caribbean community."^[41] More than 500,000 people have been killed by firearms in Brazil between 1979 and 2003.^[42]

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.^[43]

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,^[44] 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. 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.

The fraction of murders solved has decreased in the United States, from 90% in 1960 to 61% in 2007.^[45] Solved murder rates in major U.S. cities varied in 2007 from 36% in Boston, Massachusetts to 76% in San Jose, California.^[46] Major factors affecting the arrest rate include witness cooperation^[45] and the number of people assigned to investigate the case.^[46]

History

According to scholar Pieter Spierenburg murder rates per 100,000 in Europe have fallen over the centuries, from 35 per 100,000 in medieval times, to 20 in 1500 AD, 5 in 1700, to below two per 100,000 "where it has held steady, with minor fluctuations, for the past century."^[47] In the United States, murders rates have been higher and have fluctuated. They rose during the nineteenth century, dropped in the years following World War II, before rising again. The rate reached eleven per 100,000 in 1991 before falling to five per 100,000 in present times.^[47]

In Corsica, vendetta was a social code that required Corsicans to kill anyone who wronged the family honor. It has been estimated that between 1683 and 1715, nearly 30,000 out of 120,000 Corsicans lost their lives to vendetta,^[48] and between 1821 and 1852, no less than 4,300 murders were perpetrated in Corsica.^[49]

Country-specific murder law

• Australia
• Brazil
• Canada
• China
• Denmark
• England and Wales
• Finland
• France
• Germany
• Hong Kong
• India
• Israel
• Italy
• The Netherlands
• Norway
• Portugal
• Romania
• Russia
• Sweden
• Switzerland
• United States

Vikings (8th to 11th centuries)

The Viking culture had a very different concept of murder. If a person killed someone, then it was up to the murderer to pay the family fair compensation (weregild) for the labor lost by the member's death. If the perpetrator refused to pay weregild, it was up to the family of the slain to extract it from the perpetrator, or take his life.^[50] In Nordic countries, the payment of weregild was used in homicide cases until the 16th century.

The only other type of killing with consequences in Viking culture was "unjust killing", i.e. killing someone while they were sleeping or had their back to the killer. While the financial implications of unjust killing were no more severe, the killer in question suffered from a tremendous loss of trust and could be declared an outlaw.

See also

References

1. ^ Definition of murderer in Merriam Webster's Online Dictionary (2009). Retrieved on 2009-05-17.
2. ^ Usage note for -ess in The American Heritage Dictionary of the English Language: Fourth Edition (2000). Retrieved on 2009-05-17.
3. ^ "Avalon Project - Blackstone's Commentaries on the Laws of England - Book the Fourth - Chapter the Fourteenth : Of Homicide". Avalon Project, Yale University. http://avalon.law.yale.edu/18th_century/blackstone_bk4ch14.asp. Retrieved 2009-05-11.
4. ^ "''Vulgate'' Deuteronomy Ch27 V24". Latinvulgate.com. http://www.latinvulgate.com/verse.aspx?t=0&b=5&c=27. Retrieved 2010-06-25.
5. ^ "''Parallel Hebrew Old Testament'' Deuteronomy Ch27 V24". Hebrewoldtestament.com. http://www.hebrewoldtestament.com/B05C027.htm#V24. Retrieved 2010-06-25.
6. ^ American Speech - McCarthy, Kevin M.. Volume 48, pp. 77-83
7. ^ Secret Societies Handbook, Michael Bradley,Altair Cassell Illustrated, 2005. ISBN 978-1844034161
8. ^ Thug: the true story of India's murderous cult by Mike Dash, The Independent
9. ^ "Thuggee (Thagi) (13th C. to ca. 1838)". Users.erols.com. http://users.erols.com/mwhite28/warstatv.htm#Thagi. Retrieved 2010-06-25.
10. ^ Hassig, Ross (2003). "El sacrificio y las guerras floridas". Arqueología mexicana, p. 46-51.
11. ^ The Enigma of Aztec Sacrifice. Natural History, April 1977 Vol. 86, No. 4, pages 46-51.
12. ^ "Science and Anthropology". Cdis.missouri.edu. http://cdis.missouri.edu/exec/data/courses2/2065/lesson01.htm. Retrieved 2010-06-25.
13. ^ "Blackstone, Book 4, Chapter 14". Yale.edu. http://www.yale.edu/lawweb/avalon/blackstone/bk4ch14.htm. Retrieved 2010-06-25.
14. ^ A Dictionary of Modern Legal Usage By Bryan A. Garner, pg. 545.
15. ^ Margaret Otlowski, ''Voluntary Euthanasia and the Common Law'', Oxford University Press, 1997, pp. 175-177. Books.google.pl. http://books.google.pl/books?id=mDvBJ5J4tusC&pg=PA177&lpg=PA177&dq=%22Thomas+Lodwig%22+dr&source=web&ots=R80ZiJiXJG&sig=278YayRrg1BNUyEQ7X3fIQ36Srw&hl=pl&sa=X&oi=book_result&resnum=5&ct=result#PPA177,M1. Retrieved 2010-06-25.
16. ^ The French Parliemant. "Article 122-5" (in fr). French Criminal Law. Legifrance. http://www.legifrance.gouv.fr/affichTexte.do?cidTexte=JORFTEXT000000278633&dateTexte=. Retrieved 2007-11-01.
17. ^ ^{a b c} People v. Davis, 7 Cal. 4th 797, 30 Cal. Rptr. 2d 50, 872 P.2d 591 (1994).
18. ^ R. v. M'Naughten, get full cite.
19. ^ "Code de la Santé Publique Chapitre III: Hospitalisation d'office Article L3213-1" (in fr). Legifrance. 2002. http://www.legifrance.gouv.fr/affichCodeArticle.do?cidTexte=LEGITEXT000006072665&idArticle=LEGIARTI000006687933&dateTexte=20080929. Retrieved 2007-10-23. , note: this text refer to the procedure of Involuntary commitment by the demand of the public authority, but the prefect systematically use that procedure whenever a man is discharged due to his dementia.
20. ^ "Proposed Texas House bill would recognize postpartum psychosis as a defense for moms who kill infants". Dallasnews.com. 2009-03-21. http://www.dallasnews.com/sharedcontent/dws/dn/latestnews/stories/032209dnmetinfanticide.3030173.html. Retrieved 2010-06-25.
21. ^ The French Parliemant. "Article 222-8". French Criminal Law. Legifrance. http://195.83.177.9/code/liste.phtml?lang=uk&c=33&r=3691. Retrieved 2007-11-01.
22. ^ The French Parliemant. "Section II - Involuntary Offences Against Life". French Criminal Law. Legifrance. http://195.83.177.9/code/liste.phtml?lang=uk&c=33&r=3686. Retrieved 2007-11-01.
23. ^ (the so-called "Twinkie defense").
24. ^ Rogers v. Tennessee, 532 U.S. 451 (2001).
25. ^ CBS News coverage of Barnes' acquittal Accessed May 24, 2010
26. ^ "WHO: 1.6 million die in violence annually". Online.sfsu.edu. 2002-10-04. http://online.sfsu.edu/~rone/Buddhism/FivePrecepts/AnnualViolence.html. Retrieved 2010-06-25.
27. ^ "FBI web site". Fbi.gov. 2001-09-11. http://www.fbi.gov/ucr/cius_04/offenses_reported/violent_crime/murder.html. Retrieved 2010-06-25.
28. ^ Infoplease.com.
29. ^ "Brazil murder rate similar to war zone, data shows" NZ Herald News. September 26, 2006.
30. ^ "2009 Murders in Colombia (in spanish)". Elpais.com.co. http://www.elpais.com.co/paisonline/notas/Febrero092010/jud4.html. Retrieved 2010-06-25.
31. ^ "Colombia's Uribe wins second term". BBC News. 2006-05-29. http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/world/americas/5024428.stm. Retrieved 2010-06-25.
32. ^ "Twentieth Century Atlas - Homicide". Users.erols.com. http://users.erols.com/mwhite28/warstat8.htm#Murders. Retrieved 2010-06-25.
33. ^ "Jamaica "murder capital of the world"". Bbc.co.uk. http://www.bbc.co.uk/caribbean/news/story/2006/01/060103_murderlist.shtml. Retrieved 2010-06-25.
34. ^ "Canada's National Statistical Agency:Homicides". Statcan.ca. 2007-10-17. http://www.statcan.ca/Daily/English/071017/d071017b.htm. Retrieved 2010-06-25.
35. ^ "Crime Statistics". Nationmaster.com. http://www.nationmaster.com/graph/cri_mur-crime-murders. Retrieved 2010-06-25.
36. ^ Fickling, David (2004-09-22). "Raskol gangs rule world's worst city". The Guardian. http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2004/sep/22/population.davidfickling. Retrieved 2007-01-09.
37. ^ Record 32,719 killings in India last year Irish Times 6 June 2008
38. ^ "Encyclopedia of Victimology and Crime Prevention". Bonnie S. Fisher, Steven P. Lab (2010). p.706. ISBN 1412960479
39. ^ Sourcebook of criminal justice statistics Online (31st ed.). Albany, New York: Bureau of Justice Statistics. http://www.albany.edu/sourcebook/pdf/t31292007.pdf.
40. ^ "Race and crime: a biosocial analysis". Anthony Walsh (2004). Nova Publishers. p.23. ISBN 1590339703
41. ^ "MPS Response to Guns, Gangs and Knives in London". Metropolitan Police Authority. 2007-05-03. http://www.mpa.gov.uk/committees/cop/2007/070503/05.htm. Retrieved 2007-07-01.
42. ^ Kingstone, Steve (2005-06-27). "Americas | UN highlights Brazil gun crisis". BBC News. http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/americas/4628813.stm. Retrieved 2010-06-25.
43. ^ Harris, Anthony R.; Stephen H. Thomas ; Gene A. Fisher ; David J. Hirsch (May 2002). "Murder and medicine: the lethality of criminal assault 1960-1999" (fee required). Homicide studies 6 (2): 128–166. doi:10.1177/1088767902006002003. http://hsx.sagepub.com/cgi/content/abstract/6/2/128. Retrieved 2006-12-08.
44. ^ Christopher Effgen (2001-09-11). "Disaster Center web site". Disastercenter.com. http://www.disastercenter.com/crime/uscrime.htm. Retrieved 2010-06-25.
45. ^ ^{a b} Why Fewer Murder Cases Get Solved These Days by Lewis Beale. 19 May 2009.
46. ^ ^{a b} CS Monitor by Brian Whitley. Christian Science Monitor. 24 Dec 2008.
47. ^ ^{a b} Spierenburg, Pieter, A History of Murder: Personal Violence in Europe from the Middle Ages to the Present, Polity, 2008. Referred to in "Rap Sheet Why is American history so murderous?" by Jill Lepore New Yorker, November 9, 2009
48. ^ "Corsican Soup and Pulp Fiction"
49. ^ "Wanderings in Corsica: its history and its heroes". Ferdinand Gregorovius (1855). p.196.
50. ^ May Damages Be Recovered by a Non-Resident Alien for the Death of a Son? University of Pennsylvania Law Review and American Law Register, Vol. 57, No. 3, Volume 48 New Series (December 1908), pages 171-173 doi:10.2307/3313315

Bibliography

• Lord Mustill on the Common Law concerning murder
• Sir Edward Coke Co. Inst., Pt. III, ch.7, p. 50

External links

• Murder in the UK - detailed site
• 1986 Seville Statement on Violence (from UNESCO)
• "This Could Never Happen to Me - A Handbook for Families of Murder Victims and People Who Assist Them" - Hosted by the Texas Department of Criminal Justice
  • Introduction
  • Section 1
  • Section 2
• Introduction and Updated Information on the Seville Statement on Violence
• U.S. Centers for Disease Control "Atlas of United States Mortality"
• Cezanne's depiction of "The Murder"

Categories: Causes of death | Murder | Homicide | Crimes against humanity | Crimes | Sins

See Also:

• Murder: Encyclopedia
• Society: Crime: Murder: Directory
• Society: Crime: Murder: Lynching: Directory
• Society: Crime: Murder: Mass Murder: Directory
• Society: Crime: Murder: In Memoriam: Directory

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