Revised Proposals on Murder

Under the current law, the offence of murder is committed when a person kills with intent or where death is the virtually certain outcome of their behaviour and they are aware of that. It is also murder when a death results from causing serious bodily harm with intent. A conviction for murder can currently be reduced to one of voluntary manslaughter where a defence of provocation or diminished responsibility (where the crime is committed when the person is not fully responsible for their actions) can be made out or where the death was part of a suicide pact. A conviction for murder carries a mandatory life sentence, whereas the sentence for voluntary manslaughter is at the discretion of the court.

Where death is caused without the intent to kill or cause serious bodily harm, the offence committed is manslaughter.

The Government is proposing to change the law on murder, which is seen as operating harshly in cases where there is no premeditation. Under the proposals, murder will be divided into first degree murder and second degree murder.

First degree murder will include intentional killing and killing where there is the intention to cause serious injury in the awareness that there is a serious risk of causing death.

Second degree murder will occur when death results from the intent to cause some injury with the knowledge that this carries a serious risk of death. The defences of provocation and diminished responsibility will be available to reduce first degree murder to second degree murder. They will not reduce second degree murder to manslaughter.

Manslaughter is intended to be retained for cases in which:

the death is a result of grossly negligent behaviour; or

the death results from a criminal act intended to cause some injury or where there is awareness that the act poses a serious risk of causing some injury; or

the death results from participating in a crime in which there is an obvious risk that someone might be killed.

There are also changes proposed to the law concerning infanticide, failed suicide pacts and the defence of duress.

One interesting change is that the defence of provocation, which currently depends on showing a sudden loss of self-control, will only require that the behaviour was a response to a gross provocation which caused the person to have a justifiable sense of being seriously wronged. This new definition will be of assistance in cases where the provocation has built up over a long period, as is often claimed in cases involving the killing of an abusive family member.

Also, the definition of diminished responsibility will be clarified and will only be linked to ‘medically recognised conditions’. However, the definition will be extended to cover children whose responsibility is seriously impaired by developmental immaturity.
The Government is also proposing to reform the current law governing the criminal liability of those who encourage or assist others to commit criminal offences.