Definition of Involuntary Homicide
Miscellanea / / July 04, 2021
By Javier Navarro, in Mar. 2019
Homicide Involuntary includes the action of taking someone's life, without such intention. In the language everyday the idea of murder and homicide are often used as if they were synonymous. However, these are legally different ideas. Thus, we speak of a homicide when the act of killing is involuntary and we speak of murder when the crime it has been committed deliberately. In other words, the circumstances surrounding a person's crime determine a assessment legal or other.
A brief etymological and semantic analysis
If we attend to your etymology, the term homicide comes from the Latin homicidium and is formed from two elements: homo is equal to man or human being and the root cid comes from the verb caedere, which means to kill. Thus, killing a person is homicide, killing an important person is assassination, and killing one of the parents is patricide. As is logical, the person who stars in the killing is a murderer. As for the involuntary term, it is equivalent to others with the same meaning: unconscious, thoughtless or reckless.
Based on these considerations, involuntary homicide is one in which the act of killing is not a deliberate and conscious act, but has been carried out against the Will of the aggressor.
Involuntary manslaughter typically occurs as a result of reckless or negligent action
In this type of homicide, the person who kills another person does not have the intention to do so, but rather some accident or carelessness and as a result someone dies. Thus, when someone drives under the influence of alcohol or drugs, this form of reckless driving can cause someone to be hit and killed. In this case, the driver would not have acted with the intent to murder, but his conduct irresponsible must be legally punished.
For a homicide to be considered a murder, certain conditions must be met
In the first place, the action of killing must be carried out with treachery (this occurs when some means is used to guarantee the death of someone). Second, a price of reward or promise (for example, when in exchange for killing someone the criminal receives a reward).
The last requirement is cruelty, which consists of killing someone causing them disproportionate pain (for example, twenty stabbing to kill someone is a disproportionate act, since with a much lower number it would be enough to end the life of someone).
If at least one of these three conditions occurs, the homicide becomes murder.
Photo Fotolia: Barry Barnes
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