LEGAL STUDIES U1_AOS2: CRIMINAL LAW
Learning Intentions Learning Intentions: WWBAT understand and apply elements of a crime to crimes against a person.
Offences Against the Person What are some of the offences against the person? Murder Attempted murder Manslaughter Culpable driving Rape Assault Kidnapping
Homicide Homicide is the killing of a person. Murder, manslaughter, defensive homicide, infanticide and child homicide are unlawful homicides.
Murder Ye Olde Definition When a man of sound memory and of the age of discretion unlawfully kills any reasonable creature in being, and under the King s peace, with malice aforethought, either express or implied by the law, the death taking place within a year and a day R v Doherty 1887
Murder Murder is the unlawful killing of another person with malice aforethought, by a person who is of the age of discretion (10 years old and over) and of sound mind. The maximum penalty for murder is life imprisonment. Does anyone know how long this is? The Crimes Act 1958 (Vic) doesn t actually define murder, it only sets out the punishment of life imprisonment (25 years) or as fixed by the court.
Murder For a person to be found guilty of murder the prosecution must prove the following elements of murder: The killing was unlawful n This distinguishes murder from lawful killing. The accused did not have a lawful reason for causing another person s death. Examples of a lawful killing are: n the use of the death penalty in countries where capital punishment is legal n a soldier killing an enemy soldier in battle n a person acting in self-defence and a court considers such action as reasonable.
Murder The accused was a person over the age of discretion. n The accused must be at least 10 years of age. The law presumes that people under 10 are incapable of forming the intent to commit a crime. The victim was a human being. n The victim must be a human being, not an animal The accused was a person of sound mind. n The accused s actions must be voluntary, conscious and deliberate. A person who has a mental disability may not be of sound mind.
Murder The accused caused the victims death n The accused s actions must contribute significantly and substantially to a person s death. This is often left to the jury to decide. There must be a direct causal link between the accused s actions and the death of the victim. Malice aforethought existed. n Malice aforethought is the intention to commit the crime (a guilty mind or mens rea ). For malice aforethought to exist, the accused must have acted voluntarily and have one of the following states of mind.
What is malice aforethought? Malice aforethought is the intention to commit a crime. For malice aforethought to exist, the accused must have: Acted voluntarily; and Have one of the following states of mind: n An intention to kill; n An intention to inflict serious injury; n Reckless indifference n An intention to assault a person who was trying to make a lawful arrest, which resulted in that person s arrest n (On the next slide, each of these is elaborated upon)
Malice aforethought
Unintentional killing in the process of committing a violent crime A person who has no intention to kill, but does kill in the process of committing a violent crime (which is punishable by imprisonment of 10 years or more) is liable to be convicted of murder, as though he or she had killed that person intentionally.
BRAIN BREAK! Go your hardest on your mobile phone for 5 minutes. (Or ask me any questions if you need something cleared up).
Case Study Is this murder?
Activity Read the following case study and write a report demonstrating how each ELEMENT of murder is appropriate to the case:
Activity
Activity #2 Read each of the situations below and state the type of malice aforethought that applies in each case; the intention to kill the intention to inflict serious injury reckless indifference. 1. A two-year-old child dies. The parents, with the intention of punishing the child, had refused the child food for long periods of time. 2. Cash was due to inherit a fortune if Sunny died, so after careful planning he poisoned Sunny. 3. Smith was angry at Waterford and used a rifle to try and shoot Waterford in the arm. Smith was a terrible shot and Waterford died as a result.
Activity #3 Read the case study on the following slide and answer the following questions: How did the victim die? What was the accused s motive? Did he intend to kill Mr Knight? Explain why the accused was found guilty.
Activity #3
Consider this case study: A father and son from Victoria met Carly Ryan, 15, on a gothic networking website by posing as a fictitious emo character. The jury at the trial was told that Ryan fell in love with the character called Brandon Kane, who was an Internet construct of the father or the son (or both). She thought he was a 20-year-old guitarist. About 12 months before she died, Ryan had become involved in an emo youth subculture, whose members wore distinctive clothing, listened to heavy metal or punk music and wore heavy eye make-up and body piercings. The court heard that the father (Garry Newman, 51) had posed as Brandon s adoptive father as a ploy to meet Ryan. Newman went shopping with her and bought her gifts. He went to her fifteenth birthday party and got angry when she rejected his sexual advances.
Consider this case study: During the trial, the court heard that the father and son had used their fictitious character to lure Ryan to the beach. The son said he had met with the girl at the beach and Newman came up behind him and pushed Ryan down and started punching her. She died on the beach. Nick Vadasz, the barrister representing the Newmans, said: At the end of the day, a very real question and one you must decide on (is) was it a deliberate and planned act or did the unfortunate death of Carly Ryan come about as the result of misadventure. The issue is what exactly happened on the beach? The father was found guilty of murder and sentenced to 29 years in prison. The son was acquitted of all charges.
Questions: Why do you think the father was found guilty of murder? Why do you think the son was acquitted of all charges? Do you think the son should have been found guilty of aiding and abetting in a murder or an accessory to murder? Explain. What decision would you have reached in this case? Explain.