What is Homicide?

Information about Homicide

Homicide (Latin homicidium, homo human being + caedere to cut, kill) refers to the act of killing another human being.[1] It can also describe a person who has committed such an act, though this use is rare in modern English. Although homicide does not define an illegal act necessarily, sometimes it is used synonymously with "murder."

Homicidal crimes

Criminal homicide is a malum in se crime, and every legal system contains some form of prohibition or regulation of criminal homicide.

Homicidal crimes in some criminal jurisdictions include: Many forms of homicide have their own term based on the person being killed.

Non-criminal homicide

Main article: Justifiable homicide


Homicides do not always involve a crime. Sometimes the law allows homicide by allowing certain defenses to criminal charges. One of the most recognized is self defense, which provides that a person is entitled to commit homicide to protect his or her own life from a deadly attack.

Some defenses include:

State-sanctioned homicide

Homicides may also be non-criminal when conducted with the sanction of the state. The most obvious example is capital punishment, in which the state determines that a person should die, but homicides committed during war are usually not subject to criminal prosecution as well.

References

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Crimes


Classes of crime
Infraction  · Misdemeanor  · Felony
Summary  · Indictable  · Hybrid

Against the person
Assault  · Battery
Extortion  · Harassment
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Malum in se (plural mala in se) is a Latin phrase meaning wrong in itself. The phrase is used to refer to conduct thought to be inherently wrong by nature, independent of regulations governing the conduct.
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Criminal jurisdiction is a term used in constitutional law and public law to describe the power of courts to hear a case brought by a state accusing a defendant of the commission of a crime.
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Crimes


Classes of crime
Infraction  · Misdemeanor  · Felony
Summary  · Indictable  · Hybrid

Against the person
Assault  · Battery
Extortion  · Harassment
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Criminal law in English law
Part of the common law series
Classes of crimes
Summary  · Indictable
Hybrid offence  · Regulatory offences
Lesser included offence
Elements of crimes
Actus reus  · Causation
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felony murder rule is a legal doctrine current in some common law countries that broadens the crime of murder in two ways. First, when a victim dies accidentally or without specific intent in the course of an applicable felony, it increases what might have been manslaughter (or
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Crimes


Classes of crime
Infraction  · Misdemeanor  · Felony
Summary  · Indictable  · Hybrid

Against the person
Assault  · Battery
Extortion  · Harassment
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Criminal law
Part of the common law series
Elements of crimes
Actus reus  · Causation  · Concurrence
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Criminal law in English law
Part of the common law series
Classes of crimes
Summary  · Indictable
Hybrid offence  · Regulatory offences
Lesser included offence
Elements of crimes
Actus reus  · Causation
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Voluntary Manslaughter is the intentional killing of a human being in which the offender had no prior intent to kill and acted during "the heat of passion",
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Criminal law
Part of the common law series
Elements of crimes
Actus reus  · Causation  · Concurrence
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Criminal law
Part of the common law series
Elements of crimes
Actus reus  · Causation  · Concurrence
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Criminal law in English law
Part of the common law series
Classes of crimes
Summary  · Indictable
Hybrid offence  · Regulatory offences
Lesser included offence
Elements of crimes
Actus reus  · Causation
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Criminal law
Part of the common law series
Elements of crimes
Actus reus  · Causation  · Concurrence
Mens rea  · Intention (general)
Intention in English law  · Recklessness
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Scotland

This article is part of the series:
Politics of Scotland

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Negligent homicide is a charge brought against persons, who by inaction, allow others under their care to die. This offense mostly concerns itself with the death of small infants or children, the handicapped, or the elderly.
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Infanticide is the practice of someone intentionally causing the death of an infant. Often it is the mother who commits the act, but criminology recognises various forms of non-maternal child murder.
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Fratricide (from the Latin word frater, meaning: "brother" and cide meaning to kill) is the act of a person killing his or her brother.

Related concepts are sororicide (the killing of one's sister), child murder (the killing of an unrelated child),
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Sororicide is the act of killing one's own sister. It derives from the Latin soror for sister and -cide, derived from caedere, to cut or kill.
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Parricide (Latin "parricida", killer of a close relative) stemming from (Latin "parri", alike or equal, and "-cida", -cide, or killer) is defined as:
  1. the act of murdering one's father, mother, or other close relative

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Patricide is (i) the act of killing one's father, or (ii) a person who kills his or her father. The word patricide derives from the Latin word pater (father) and the Latin suffix -cida (cutter or killer).
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Matricide is the act of killing one's mother. As for any type of killing, motives can vary a great deal.

Known or suspected matricides

  • Cleopatra III of Egypt was assassinated in 101 BC by order of her son, Ptolemy X, for her conspiring.

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Mariticide (not to be confused with matricide); from the Latin maritus (married) & cidium (killing), literally means the murder of one's married partner, but has become most associated with the murder of a husband by his wife, as the reverse is given the name uxoricide.
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Uxoricide (from Latin uxor meaning "wife") is murder of one's wife. It can refer to the act itself or the man who carries it out. Uxoricide is often preceded by the wife's attempt to leave her husband, or by real or suspected infidelity.
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Filicide is the deliberate act of a parent killing his or her own son or daughter. The term can also be applied to the parent who has committed such an act. The word filicide derives from the Latin word filius meaning "son".
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regicide is the deliberate killing of a monarch, or the person responsible for it. In a narrower sense, in the British tradition, it refers to the judicial execution of a king after alleged due process of law.
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monarch (see sovereignty) is a type of ruler or head of state. Monarchs almost always inherit their titles and are rulers for life; that is, they have no term limit. Historically monarchs have been more or less absolute rulers.
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Genocide is the deliberate and systematic destruction of an ethnic, religious or national group. While precise definition varies among genocide scholars, the legal definition is found in the 1948 United Nations Convention on the Prevention and Punishment of the Crime of Genocide
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