Voluntary and Involuntary Manslaughter
Manslaughter is a unique type of murder, in which a person is killed unintentionally and without prior planning. Even though the result is always a death of a person, manslaughter has different types, two of which are voluntary and involuntary manslaughter. Involuntary type is the case when a person performs an action which is not supposed to make harm on the first place, but which eventually leads to the death of an innocent person. There are several examples of involuntary manslaughter. For instance, if a parent leaves the decease of the child untreated, which later leads to critical consequences. Another example is the situation when a person, who is drunk driving, incidentally kills the pedestrian. Killing an innocent person was not the basic intention of the driver, however, the fact that he or she were not sober while driving led to the decrease of their concentration on the process of driving and, later, to the manslaughter.
On the other hand, voluntary manslaughter is an accident act of murder which is a result of the actions that are potentially harmful and can lead to the death of another person. For example, if two men start a fight, and one of them kills the other one. Thus, even though killing was not the basic intention, the murderer still performed an act which could potentially kill another person while being completely sane. There are some cases in which the provocations towards the voluntary manslaughter are adequate. For example, mutual combat, defendant’s illegal arrest, or injury (serious abuse) to close relative of defendant. On the other hand, mere words cannot in any case be thought of as an adequate provocation because they usually have no factual base underneath them. All adequate provocations are supported by facts and judicial cases, and in no case words that have no proofs.
Jonathan Herring, Criminal Law (2015).
Works Cited
Jonathan Herring, Criminal Law …
