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How is Manslaughter and Murder different?

What is the difference between Manslaughter vs. Murder?


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Every killing is the same. Every death is the same because it all ends in one thing, taking lives of other people. The court however, defines the degrees of killings through the intention of the killer. This means that there are varying degrees of killings as the court further investigates what transpires during the said event.

Murder is defined as taking away lives through the means of a violent act with an intention to kill. Manslaughter is quite different, although killing is still done, there is a difference on the part of the accused. Manslaughter is still taking away lives of human beings but without malicious intent.

Having defined the two terms, the court also has defined grounds for manslaughter and murder. The way the grounds for manslaughter and murder were defined was based on the severity of the case as well as how the suspect has perceived the event. This is because in the case of manslaughter, there are accidents that transpired which caused death of another person. Examples are driving while drunk, throwing stones or hard objects without intention of hitting and most likely killing someone.

Murder has different degrees and how the suspect will be put to justice will also depend on the degree. The 1st degree murder is what we call a premeditated murder. This means that the act is intentional and was planned ahead of time. The 2nd degree murder is what we call a homicide. It is murder that took place in the event or as a result of another crime. One common example is killing while robbing. The 3rd degree is murder while the intention was only to harm the victim.

Manslaughter, just like murder, has varying degrees also. They are called voluntary and involuntary manslaughter. When we say voluntary manslaughter, it is the act being done while the person was provoked to do so. It should be proved that the convicted does not commit these kinds of actions normally or a temporary insanity occurred. Involuntary manslaughter on the other hand is more of an accident. Examples are negligence, hitting someone or any act wherein there is no intention of hurting or killing the victim.

Because of the differences of manslaughter and murder as well as their varying degrees, punishments of the acts are different too. Usually, manslaughter is punishable by a short prison sentence with fines. Murder is often punishable through life sentence and death penalty in some states or countries.

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