Attempted murder
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Attempted murder is a crime of attempt in various jurisdictions.
Canada
Section 239 of the Criminal Code makes attempted murder punishable by a maximum of life imprisonment. If a gun is used, the minimum sentence is four, five or seven years, dependent on prior convictions and relation to organized crime.[1]
United Kingdom
England and Wales
In English
In England and Wales, as an "attempt", attempted murder is an offence under section 1(1) of the Criminal Attempts Act 1981 and is an indictable offence which carries a maximum penalty of life imprisonment (the same as the mandatory sentence for murder). The corresponding legislation for Northern Ireland is section 3(1) of the Criminal Attempts and Conspiracy (Northern Ireland) Order 1983 (No.1120 (N.I.13)).
The
However, in R v Morrison [2003] 1 WLR 1859, the
This is a practical decision to ensure that the criminal justice system did not allow a guilty person to walk away because only one charge had been preferred. But it is not necessarily a good general principle[citation needed] because, in euthanasia for example, a person assisting intends to cause death, but with no suffering. That attempting to cause grievous bodily harm must be an alternative verdict should the intended victim not die would be a strange outcome because there is no intention to cause any long-lasting and serious injury: the two attempted offences have different mens rea requirements so that proof of intent to murder would not necessarily meet the requirement for section 18 of the 1861 Act.
First, acting deliberately and intentionally or recklessly with extreme disregard for human life, the person attempted to kill someone; and the person did something that was a substantial step toward committing the crime. Mere preparation is not considered a substantial step toward committing a crime.
Proof of mens rea
There must be more than merely preparatory acts and, although the defendant may threaten death, this may not provide convincing evidence of an intention to kill unless the words are accompanied by relevant action, e.g. finding and picking up a weapon and making serious use of it, or making a serious and sustained physical attack without a weapon.
Duress, necessity and marital coercion
The defences of
History
Prior to 1967,
After the repeal of these offences by the Criminal Law Act 1967, attempted murder was allowed to subsist at common law until the enactment of the 1981 Act.
Scotland
Attempted murder is a crime at common law in Scotland. Attempted murder is the same as the offence of murder in Scots law with the only difference being that the victim has not died.[4] The offence of murder was defined in Drury v HM Advocate:
[M]urder is constituted by any wilful act causing the destruction of life, by which the perpetrator either wickedly intends to kill or displays wicked recklessness as to whether the victim lives or dies.
Intention can be inferred from the circumstances of the case. Wicked recklessness is determined objectively[5] and is "recklessness so gross that it indicates a state of mind which falls to be treated as wicked and depraved as the state of mind of a deliberate killer."[6] As with all common law offences in Scotland, the maximum punishment available is life imprisonment.
See also
References
- ^ Criminal Code, RSC 1985, c C-46, s 239.
- ^ The Criminal Justice Act 1925 (15 & 16 Geo.5 c.86), section 47
- ^ The Criminal Justice Act (Northern Ireland) 1945 (c.15)(N.I.), section 37
- ^ Cawthorne v HMA, 1968 JC 32, 36 per LJ-G Clyde.
- ^ Broadley v HMA, 1991 JC 108, 114 per LJ-C Ross.
- ^ Scott v HMA, 1996 JC 1, 5 (opinion of the court)