THE CRIMINAL CODE

1. THE CRIMINAL CODE Offences Against the Person and Reputation: Violent Crimes

2. KEY TERMS • Homicide • Culpable homicide • Non-culpable homicide • Murder • First-degree murder • Second-degree murder • Causation (“but-for” test) • Manslaughter • Infanticide • Assisted suicide • Euthanasia • abduction

3. HOMICIDE • Defined: the killing of another person by any means, either directly or indirectly. • Can be either CULPABLE or NON-CULPABLE • CULPABLE HOMICIDE – to cause the death of someone else on purpose or because of recklessness – “blameable”. • NON-CULPABLE HOMICIDE - to cause the death of someone by complete accident or self-defence – not blameable, therefore the individual will not be held criminally responsible.

4. TYPES OF HOMICIDE

5. MURDER • The deliberate (intentional) killing of another person • It is classified into two categories: first degree and second degree.

6. FIRST-DEGREE MURDER • FIRST-DEGREE MURDER occurs when any ONE of the following circumstances exists: • It is planned (a scheme that is thought out carefully, where the person carefully weighs and considers the consequences) and deliberate (not impulsive); • It is contracted (one person hires another to commit it); • The victim is a law enforcement agent, i.e. a police officer, prison official. • The death occurs while one commits or attempts to commit another serious crime particularly offensive to society, such as hijacking, sexual assault, kidnapping and forcible confinement, hostage taking, terrorist activities, etc. In these situations the murder does not have to be planned and deliberate to qualify as first-degree.

7. SECOND DEGREE MURDER • All murder that is not first degree murder is second degree murder.

8. MURDER - PUNISHMENT • FIRST DEGREE – life in prison with no eligibility for parole for 25 years • SECOND DEGREE – life in prison with no eligibility for parole for 10 years • To be convicted of murder, the Crown must be able to prove CAUSATION. To prove causation, the Crown must prove that the accused did cause the death of the victim. • To prove causation, they use the “but-for” test – BUT FOR the accused’s act, would the harm have occurred?

9. MANSLAUGHTER • Causing the death of a person, directly or indirectly, by means of an unlawful act. • Requires only general intent – the actusreus is the killing of someone through a wrongful act, even if it was not intentional. • For example, Shubdip and Siman get into an argument in a bar, and Siman punches Shubdip in the face, causing Shubdip to lose his balance, fall, and hit his head on the corner of a pool table. They both leave the bar, but later that night, Shubdip dies from internal bleeding caused by a severe concussion. Siman would be charged with manslaughter, because even though he did not mean to kill Shubdip, Siman meant to hurt him. Shubdip died as a direct result of Siman’s wrongful act (aka “but-for”) • The mensrea is simply that any reasonable person could have foreseen that the wrongful act would pose a risk of bodily harm that was neither insignificant (trivial)nor temporary (transitory).

10. MANSLAUGHTER AND CRIMINAL NEGLIGENCE • A charge of manslaughter can also be brought in the event that criminal negligence resulted in deathi.e. if you do something that or fail to do something that is your duty which shows a reckless disregard for the lives or safety of others, such as reckless driving, failure to provide the necessities of life.

11. WHEN CAN A MURDER CHARGE BE REDUCED TO MANSLAUGHTER? • A charge of murder can be reduced to manslaughter if the accused can show provocation on the part of the victim, or extreme intoxication as their defence. • For a successful defence of provocation to be used, the accused would have to prove that the victim did something so insulting or outrageous that it caused the accused to lose self-control or behave irrationally in the heat of passion (i.e. immediately following the provocation). No cooling-off period can occur, or else it becomes planned and deliberate, and is murder. • For a successful defence of intoxication to be used, there must be doubt as to whether the accused specifically intended to kill the victim because the accused was drunk or high. • The maximum punishment for manslaughter is life imprisonment; there is a minimum sentence of 4 years if a firearm is used.

12. INFANTICIDE • Occurs when a mother kills her newborn child. All three of the following circumstances must be present for a crime to be infanticide: • The accused must be the natural mother of the victim; • Victims must be less than 12 months old; • At the time of the killing, the accused must have been suffering from a mental disturbance caused by not being able to recover from giving birth to the victim, such as post-partum depression. • The maximum punishment for infanticide is 5 years. • A common defence to drop the charges from murder to infanticide (where the penalty is substantially less than murder) is that the mother was suffering from post-partum depression, which requires medical treatment.

13. ASSISTED SUICIDE • It is an offence to counsel anyone to commit suicide or to help (aid or abet) anyone commit suicide. • Maximum penalty is 14 years in prison

14. EUTHANASIA • Euthanasia is the act of putting to death persons suffering from incurable and disabling diseases as an act of mercy killing. • voluntary euthanasia – is where the patient wants to be allowed to die; • involuntary euthanasia – where the patient cannot give consent; • passive euthanasia – when a person's condition is considered hopeless and is never treated; • active euthanasia – when drugs are given or treatment is withdrawn to bring about the death of a person.

15. ABDUCTION • It is an offence to take an unmarried person under the age of 16 years from the possession of and against the will of his/her parent, guardian, or any other person who has lawful care or charge of the person. • It is also an offence to unlawfully take, entice, conceal, detain, receive, or harbor a person under 14 years of age by anyone other than the parent or guardian. • Enticing is also an offence in custodial situations – where a child might be enticed from the custodial parent, prior to the custodial order, or later on.

16. ASSIGNMENT Read pages 218 – 223. • Complete the handout provided. Note: question 10 (Communicating Your Ideas) is to be submitted for evaluation NEXT CLASS. • Complete R. v. Nette, questions 1 – 4 on page 220. • Complete R. v. Latimer, questions 1, 2 on page 223.