What is Homicide?

The word homicide has formed part of our daily news. Homicide is a recurrent issue in today's world but unfortunately, some persons are ignorant of its meaning.

Origin/Meaning of Homicide

The word homicide is from the combination of two words i.e. 'Homo' which is a Latin term that means human beings while 'Cide' means the act of killing or Killer. The word homicide is the act of killing a human being by another human. Homicide can be seen in two forms which are:

• Lawful Homicide: This is the defensible and justifiable homicide. It involves self-defense, Killing in war and killing someone trying to kill another person. It can only be termed lawful if available evidence shows it was done to protect self.
  

• Unlawful Homicide: This involve killing of human beings, with the intention to cause grievance bodily harm. Unlawful Homicide can be in form of Murder or Manslaughter.
  

What's the difference between homicide, murder and manslaughter?

People are often confused by the terms homicide, murder and manslaughter. When reading the newspaper, they wonder why one defendant gets life for murder, while another person gets probation for manslaughter, which, in a way, sounds worse than murder. Here is a brief explanation of the terms, regardless of what jurisdiction a person live in.

• Homicide: Homicide is simply the killing of one person by another. It may or may not be illegal. Soldiers in battle commit homicide without committing a crime. Citizens kill intruders without committing a crime. So, what is it that separates a legal homicide from an illegal murder? And, what makes one killing a murder and another a manslaughter?
• Murder: Murder is a homicide committed with “malice aforethought.” That doesn’t mean it is a malicious killing. Malice aforethought is the common law way of saying that it is an unjustified killing. And, for a killing to be a murder, there typically has to be either an intent to kill, or, at minimum, conduct so reckless that it is punishable as murder. Murder usually is broken down into degrees. First degree murder punishes premeditated killings, the killing of especially vulnerable people (such as children), and unintended killings done while intentionally committing another serious felony. This last kind of first degree murder is called felony murder.
  
• Manslaughter: Manslaughter is typically treated as a much less severe crime than murder. Manslaughter can be broken up into degrees, or categorized as voluntary and involuntary manslaughter. Voluntary manslaughter is the killing of another person under extreme provocation or while under the heat of passion.
  

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