Involuntary Manslaughter Research Paper

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Leo Coates June 2013 Q4 - Involuntary manslaughter Involuntary manslaughter is defined as the unlawful killing of a reasonable creature under the Queen's peace without malice aforethought. It is a less serious crime than murder as it does not require the full mens rea – intent. There are three types of involuntary manslaughter, which are committed in different ways – reckless manslaughter, gross negligence manslaughter, and constructive manslaughter. Robert is potentially guilty of constructive act manslaughter, where there is an unlawful killing that occurs when another crime is taking place intentionally or recklessly. The case of Franklin (1883) demonstrates that for a defendant to be found guilty of constructive manslaughter, the…show more content…
Although negligence is a civil concept, occasionally the negligence is so severe that it is right to prosecute. This type of manslaughter can be committed both by omission, defined as a failure to act where there is a legal duty to act, or by commission – a positive act. In this scenario, Kieran is likely to be guilty of gross negligence manslaughter by omission, as his failure to act arguably cause the death. In our legal system there is no general duty to act, duties can only arise in five situations; as Kieran is an ambulance driver, he has a contractual duty to act, as illustrated by the case of Pittwood (1902), where a railway gate crossing officer caused a death by failing to carry out his job properly. The case of Dytham (1979), where a police officer was found guilty of misconduct in a public officer after failing to act when he saw a man being kicked to death, further demonstrates this principle – the officer was guilty as he had a contractual duty to act. It is clear that there was Kieran breached his duty, as he went home and was therefore unable to respond promptly to emergency…show more content…
The early case of Bateman (1925) set out the first definition of gross negligence, defining it as showing “such disregard for the life and safety of others.”, then in the case of Andrews v DPP (1937), Lord Atkin defined gross as “a very high degree of negligence”, and finally the more recent case of Adomako (1994) sets out the current definition, saying that the defendants conduct must have been “so bad in all the circumstances as to amount to a criminal act or omision.” A case example of this is Edwards (2001), where two defendants were found guilty of gross negligence manslaughter by omission when they took their daughter and another girl for a picnic and allowed them to play on a railway line unsupervised, and they were killed. Their conduct was described as “so bad as to amount to an omission”. Before a conviction can be reached, it must be decided whether the defendants conduct was grossly negligent using these definitions, and in this scenario it is definitely possible to say that Kieran's failure to act was grossly

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