Voluntary Manslaughter OCR A2 LAW

Voluntary Manslaughter
This is where the killing occurs under
·S2 Diminished Responsibility
·S3 Provocation
·S4 Suicide Pact under the Homicide Act 1957
These are partial defences and if convicted hold a discretionary
sentence…read more

Diminished Responsibility
"Where a person kills or is party to a killing of
another, he shall not be convicted of murder if he
was suffering from such abnormality of mind
(whether arising from arrested/retarded
development of mind) or any inherent causes or
induced by disease or injury as substantially
impaired his responsibility for the killing" s2…read more

Abnormality of Mind
In Byrne 1960, the CA described this as "a state of
mind so different from that of an ordinary human
being that the reasonable man would term it
abnormal"
= D was a psychopath who strangled a young woman
and mutilated her body. Medical evidence showed
that due to his condition he was not able to control
his perverted desires…read more

DR and Intoxication
In DR, Intoxication is considered on whether the effect of
intoxication on the brain can be a disease and what has to be
proved where the D had a pre-existing mental disorder but was
also intoxicated when he killed
Di Duca 1959: CA held that the immediate effects of taking
alcohol or drugs wasn't an injury even if it did have an effect on
the brain
Tandy 1989: D had been an alcoholic... Judge told jury to
decide whether Tandy was suffering from abnormality due to
her alcoholism or if she was just drunk. She was convicted as
there was no evidence that her brain had been injured…read more

Reforms
Burden of proof is on the DR which states that
`everyone charged with a criminal offence shall be
presumed to be innocent until proven guilty'
Problems regarding the definition as the words aren'
t clear and in different cases, different doctors
classify the same condition differently…read more

Provocation
"Where, on a charge of murder, there is evidence
on which the jury can find that the person charged
was provoked (whether by things done/said) to
lose his self control, the question whether the
provocation was enough to make a reasonable
man do as he did shall be left to the jury" s3…read more