Homicides, Criminal

There is a great deal of confusion in the use of the terms homicide and murder, partly because criminologists and lawyers tend not to use the terms in the same way. Legally, homicide is the killing of one person by another, and homicide is divided into justifiable and criminal homicides. A justifiable homicide is the killing of another in self-defense when faced with the danger of serious bodily injury. This includes killing of combatants during war, legal executions, and homicides by police in the course of carrying out their duties. A civilian justifiable homicide is the killing of another when faced with death or to prevent the death of another.

Criminal homicides consist of murder and manslaughter. The Model Penal Code, used by many states, defines criminal homicide as the act of purposely, knowingly, recklessly, or negligently causing the death of another human being. Murder is defined as the killing of another human being with malice aforethought, while manslaughter is killing without malice aforethought. The term malice aforethought is applied to murders that resulted from the intentional infliction of serious bodily harm, from outrageously reckless conduct, or, in some states, from a felony such as robbery. Manslaughter is defined as murder [Page 334]committed in the heat of passion or the responsibility for another's death through reckless conduct, such as driving a car with defective brakes in a large city.

Most of the research on criminal homicides focuses on murders, and criminologists tend to use the term homicide to include murder. As a rule, their research on homicide does not include justifiable homicides or negligent manslaughters. Criminologists tend to use the terms homicide, criminal homicide, and murder interchangeably.