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[edit] English law

The Homicide Act 1957 sets out three partial defences that reduce murder to voluntary manslaughter: diminished responsibility, provocation and suicide pact. Sections 52 to 56 of the Coroners and Justice Act 2009

• amend and update the partial defence of diminished responsibility, and
• abolish the partial defence of provocation and replace it with a new partial defence called "loss of control".

These changes came into force on 4 October 2010.

[edit] Diminished responsibility

This covers diminished mental responsibility for a crime falling short of the requirements of the complete defence of Insanity. Under section 2 of the Homicide Act 1957 there are three requirements for the defendant to raise the defence of diminished responsibility:

• The defendant suffered from an abnormality of mind at the time of the killing. An abnormality of mind is ‘a state of mind so different from that of ordinary human beings that the reasonable man would term it abnormal’.^[4]
• The abnormality was caused by one of the causes specified by the Act: a condition of arrested or retarded development of mind, any inherent cause or a disease or injury.
• The abnormality substantially impaired the defendant’s mental responsibility for the killing. Substantial means the lack of control must simply be ‘more than trivial’.^[5]

Under section 2(2) of the Act it is for the defendant to prove he suffered from such a condition on the balance of probabilities.

[edit] Provocation

Provocation was originally a common law defense to murder, but it was reformed by section 3 of the Homicide Act 1957. There were two limbs to the defence, first the defendant must have actually been provoked, and second the provocation must be such as would have made the reasonable man act as the defendant did. Provocation could come from someone other than the victim^[6] and be aimed at someone other than the accused.^[7] Further the defense was not defeated by the fact that the defendant induced the provocation.^[8]

• Subjective limb: provocation in fact: It was a question of fact for the jury whether the defendant was in fact provoked. The loss of control had to be sudden and temporary.^[9] However, it could be the result of slow burn with a relatively minor ‘final straw’.
• Objective limb: the reasonable man test: The provocation had to be enough to make a reasonable man do as the defendant did. The reasonable man had the same sex and age as the defendant and such characteristics as affected the gravity of the provocation to the defendant, but characteristics irrelevant to the provocation such as unrelated mental disorders were not given to the reasonable man.^[10] Finally, the reasonable man always had reasonable powers of self control.^[11] and is never intoxicated.^[12]

[edit] Suicide pacts

Section 4(1) of the Homicide Act 1957 introduced the defence of suicide pact in England and Wales. Parliament's intention was to show some compassion for those who had been involved in a suicide pact but failed to die. Section 4(3) defines a suicide pact as ‘a common agreement between two or more persons having for its object the death of all of them, whether or not each is to take his own life’. The accused must have had a "settled intention of dying in pursuance of the pact" to avoid his entering into a supposed pact with the real intention of committing murder.

[edit] Infanticide

Infanticide is a separate offence from manslaughter. This offense was created by statute in some countries during the 20th century. Generally, a conviction of infanticide will be made where the court is satisfied that a mother killed her newborn child while the balance of her mind was disturbed as a result of childbirth; for instance, in cases of post-natal depression. It is a form of manslaughter, and carries the same range of sentences as a manslaughter conviction. While infanticide is a separate offense from murder, and not a reductive defense to murder (such as the defenses listed below), in practice it works in much the same way as a reductive defense.

[edit] Involuntary manslaughter

Involuntary manslaughter is the unlawful killing of a human being without malice aforethought, either express or implied. It is distinguished from voluntary manslaughter by the absence of intention. It is normally divided into two categories; constructive manslaughter and criminally negligent manslaughter.

[edit] Constructive manslaughter

Constructive manslaughter is also referred to as ‘unlawful act’ manslaughter. It is based on the doctrine of constructive malice, whereby the malicious intent inherent in the commission of a crime is considered to apply to the consequences of that crime. It occurs when someone kills, without intent, in the course of committing an unlawful act. The malice involved in the crime is transferred to the killing, resulting in a charge of manslaughter.

For example, a person who runs a red light in their vehicle and hits someone crossing the street could be found to intend or be reckless as to assault or criminal damage (see DPP v Newbury^{[13] aResults Depravedteen Sv Publish Portal0 Tab12884 Info447072 Depraved Manslaughter - pedia, the free encyclopediad y Women Depraved aResults Depravedteen Sv Publish Portal0 Tab12884 Info447072 Depraved Manslaughter - pedia, the free encyclopedial n Depraved b Depraved Depraved}