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Felony Murder Rule (Pennsylvania)
Pennsylvania was the first state to differentiate the crime of "murder" into degrees based upon the culpability of the perpetrator. The most significant departure was the division of murder into degrees, a change ''initiated'' by the Pennsylvania legislation of 1794."). Dressler goes onto explain that " her states followed the Pennsylvania practice until at one time the vast majority of American jurisdictions differentiated degrees of murder and the term 'first-degree murder' passed into common parlance." Up until the 1960s, the common law definition of 'murder' was intentional homicide with malice aforethought; i.e. it was codified without respect to distinct elements as it is today. First degree murder in this epoch of criminal law, and in Pennsylvania at the time the statute of 1794 was ratified, was reserved for intentional homicide whereby the conduct was 'willful', 'deliberate', or 'premeditated'. The interesting point to note is that the assignment of either a first deg ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Model Penal Code
The Model Penal Code (MPC) is a model act designed to stimulate and assist U.S. state legislatures to update and standardize the penal law of the United States.MPC (Foreword). The MPC was a project of the American Law Institute (ALI), and was published in 1962 after a ten-year drafting period. The chief reporter on the project was Herbert Wechsler, and contributors included Sanford Kadish and numerous other noted criminal law scholars, prosecutors, and defense lawyers.Wechsler (1952)Dubber (2015, pp. 7-10). The ALI performed an examination of the penal system in the U.S. and the prohibitions, sanctions, excuses, and authority used throughout in order to arrive at a cohesive synthesis to the extent possible, and the best rules for the penal system in the United States. Primary responsibility for criminal law lies with the individual states, which over the years led to great inconsistency among the various state penal codes. The MPC was meant to be a comprehensive criminal co ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Murder
Murder is the unlawful killing of another human without justification (jurisprudence), justification or valid excuse (legal), excuse, especially the unlawful killing of another human with malice aforethought. ("The killing of another person without justification or excuse, especially the crime of killing a person with malice aforethought or with recklessness manifesting extreme indifference to the value of human life.") This state of mind may, depending upon the jurisdiction (area), jurisdiction, distinguish murder from other forms of unlawful homicide, such as manslaughter. Manslaughter is killing committed in the absence of Malice (law), ''malice'',This is "malice" in a technical legal sense, not the more usual English sense denoting an emotional state. See malice (law). brought about by reasonable Provocation (legal), provocation, or diminished capacity. Involuntary manslaughter, ''Involuntary'' manslaughter, where it is recognized, is a killing that lacks all but the most a ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Malice Aforethought
Malice aforethought is the "premeditation" or "predetermination" (with malice (law), malice) required as an element of some crimes in some jurisdictions and a unique element for first-degree or aggravation (law), aggravated murder in a few. Insofar as the term is still in use, it has a technical meaning that has changed substantially over time. Etymology Malice aforethought is a direct translation of the Law French term ''malice prépensée'', so the adjective follows the noun as in French. Legal history Malice aforethought was not an element of murder in early medieval English law cases. Both self-defence killings and death by misadventure were treated as murder by juries. Although pardons for self-defence became common after the Statute of Gloucester was passed in 1278, the jury in a 14th-century case still found that a self-defence killing was felonious. In the 12th century, any death by misadventure without a "presentment of Englishry" was sufficient for a jury finding of ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Capital Punishment
Capital punishment, also known as the death penalty, is the state-sanctioned practice of deliberately killing a person as a punishment for an actual or supposed crime, usually following an authorized, rule-governed process to conclude that the person is responsible for violating norms that warrant said punishment. The sentence ordering that an offender is to be punished in such a manner is known as a death sentence, and the act of carrying out the sentence is known as an execution. A prisoner who has been sentenced to death and awaits execution is ''condemned'' and is commonly referred to as being "on death row". Crimes that are punishable by death are known as ''capital crimes'', ''capital offences'', or ''capital felonies'', and vary depending on the jurisdiction, but commonly include serious crimes against the person, such as murder, mass murder, aggravated cases of rape (often including child sexual abuse), terrorism, aircraft hijacking, war crimes, crimes against h ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Due Process
Due process of law is application by state of all legal rules and principles pertaining to the case so all legal rights that are owed to the person are respected. Due process balances the power of law of the land and protects the individual person from it. When a government harms a person without following the exact course of the law, this constitutes a due process violation, which offends the rule of law. Due process has also been frequently interpreted as limiting laws and legal proceedings (see substantive due process) so that judges, instead of legislators, may define and guarantee fundamental fairness, justice, and liberty. That interpretation has proven controversial. Analogous to the concepts of natural justice and procedural justice used in various other jurisdictions, the interpretation of due process is sometimes expressed as a command that the government must not be unfair to the people or abuse them physically. The term is not used in contemporary English law, but t ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Felony
A felony is traditionally considered a crime of high seriousness, whereas a misdemeanor is regarded as less serious. The term "felony" originated from English common law (from the French medieval word "félonie") to describe an offense that resulted in the confiscation of a convicted person's land and goods, to which additional punishments including capital punishment could be added; other crimes were called misdemeanors. Following conviction of a felony in a court of law, a person may be described as a felon or a convicted felon. Some common law countries and jurisdictions no longer classify crimes as felonies or misdemeanors and instead use other distinctions, such as by classifying serious crimes as indictable offences and less serious crimes as summary offences. In the United States, where the felony/misdemeanor distinction is still widely applied, the federal government defines a felony as a crime punishable by death or imprisonment in excess of one year. If punishable by e ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Aggravated Assault
An assault is the act of committing physical harm or unwanted physical contact upon a person or, in some specific legal definitions, a threat or attempt to commit such an action. It is both a crime and a tort and, therefore, may result in criminal prosecution, civil liability, or both. Generally, the common law definition is the same in criminal and tort law. Traditionally, common law legal systems have separate definitions for assault and battery. When this distinction is observed, battery refers to the actual bodily contact, whereas assault refers to a credible threat or attempt to cause battery. Some jurisdictions combined the two offences into a single crime called "assault and battery", which then became widely referred to as "assault". The result is that in many of these jurisdictions, assault has taken on a definition that is more in line with the traditional definition of battery. The legal systems of civil law and Scots law have never distinguished assault from batter ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Law Of Pennsylvania
The law of Pennsylvania consists of several levels, including constitutional, statutory, regulatory and case law. The ''Pennsylvania Consolidated Statutes'' form the general statutory law. Sources The Constitution of Pennsylvania is the foremost source of state law. Legislation is enacted by the Pennsylvania General Assembly, published in the '' Laws of Pennsylvania'', and codified in the ''Pennsylvania Consolidated Statutes''. State agency regulations (sometimes called administrative law) are published in the ''Pennsylvania Bulletin'' and codified in the ''Pennsylvania Code''. Pennsylvania's legal system is based on common law, which is interpreted by case law through the decisions of the Supreme Court, Superior Court, and Commonwealth Court, which are published in the '' Pennsylvania State Reports'' and the ''Pennsylvania Reporter''. Municipalities may also promulgate local ordinances. In addition, there are also several sources of persuasive authority, which are not binding ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Pennsylvania Law
The law of Pennsylvania consists of several levels, including constitutional, statutory, regulatory and case law. The ''Pennsylvania Consolidated Statutes'' form the general statutory law. Sources The Constitution of Pennsylvania is the foremost source of state law. Legislation is enacted by the Pennsylvania General Assembly, published in the '' Laws of Pennsylvania'', and codified in the ''Pennsylvania Consolidated Statutes''. State agency regulations (sometimes called administrative law) are published in the ''Pennsylvania Bulletin'' and codified in the ''Pennsylvania Code''. Pennsylvania's legal system is based on common law, which is interpreted by case law through the decisions of the Supreme Court, Superior Court, and Commonwealth Court, which are published in the '' Pennsylvania State Reports'' and the ''Pennsylvania Reporter''. Municipalities may also promulgate local ordinances. In addition, there are also several sources of persuasive authority, which are not binding ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Murder In Pennsylvania
Murder in Pennsylvania law constitutes the intentional killing, under circumstances defined by law, of people within or under the jurisdiction of the U.S. state of Pennsylvania. The United States Centers for Disease Control and Prevention reported that in the year 2020, the state had a murder rate somewhat above the median for the entire country. Felony murder rule Pennsylvania was the first state to differentiate the crime of "murder" into degrees based upon the culpability of the perpetrator. The most significant departure was the division of murder into degrees, a change ''initiated'' by the Pennsylvania legislation of 1794."). Dressler goes onto explain that " her states followed the Pennsylvania practice until at one time the vast majority of American jurisdictions differentiated degrees of murder and the term 'first-degree murder' passed into common parlance." Up until the 1960s, the common law definition of 'murder' was intentional homicide with malice aforethought; i.e. ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
