Is killing an abusive partner murder?

[MikeSz]

Murder in a simplistic sense encompasses the intentional killing of another person. Intent is the key and it is a requirement for the prosecution to show the offending party intended to kill. This covers spare of the moment crimes/crimes of passion. Those elements that drove you to the act are at best mitigation - if there is an intent to kill, then the offence is murder.

Of course its never that clear cut and a court have to decide beyond all reasonable doubt that the person charged had that intent. If someone lashes out at another with no intention of killing them, and the attacked person dies then the offence becomes manslaughter as the offending party has killed though had no intent.

On the subject of spousal abuse – then clearly under the traditional legal system any person who has killed another will usually fall into one of the two offences above. Im not even going to pretend to understand what its like to be involved in spousal abuse as im sure it’s a lot more complicated than my own narrow interpretations – suffice to say, that it certainly wouldn’t happen to me – I’m not the sort who would be bullied about, if for no other reason that I’m independent and would simply remove myself from the situation. Of course I realise that its far more complicated than that for some of those involved and not everyone can pick themselves up by their bootstraps though I believe it’s a mistake to start legislating the issue – the law should be strict and clear. Any deviation from this must surely attract an abuse of the system. The mechanisms for dealing with prevention are already well established and should be improved so that it’s impossible to be left on your own should you be a sufferer – at that point there is no need for legislation. In my views these sorts of issues should always be addressed by culture emphasis or framework changes and not through legislation which can only lead to the problem being hidden away or obfuscated.

[jaysay]

Well to me if you kill somebody in cold blood even if your the victim of abuse, is murder. I don't think there is any need for any law change at all, the socalled legal experts have great difficulty using the current laws to the full so why muddy the waters any further.

[SamF]

Originally Posted by jaysay

Well to me if you kill somebody in cold blood even if your the victim of abuse, is murder. I don't think there is any need for any law change at all, the socalled legal experts have great difficulty using the current laws to the full so why muddy the waters any further.

They aren't muddying the waters at all... they are doing the exact opposite. The new law will not change anything in realistic terms - as I said earlier it is already the case that "battered wives" receive the lesser sentence of voluntary manslaughter. All this legislation is doing is bringing up to date a defence - provocation which was originally created to allow killing in the name of honour in the 18th/19th century which has then been adapted to give these people a partial defence. The question as to whether or not an abused spouse killing their husband/wife is classed as murder has been debated and settled. I don't think many without an education in this area of the law understand the differences between murder, voluntary manslaughter and involuntary manslaughter and such knowledge should be sought before commenting.