murder

(mûr'dər)

1. The unlawful killing of one human by another, especially with premeditated malice.
2. Slang. Something that is very uncomfortable, difficult, or hazardous: The rush hour traffic is murder.
3. A flock of crows. See synonyms at flock¹.

1. To kill (another human) unlawfully.
2. To kill brutally or inhumanly.
3. To put an end to; destroy: murdered their chances.
4. To spoil by ineptness; mutilate: a speech that murdered the English language.
5. Slang. To defeat decisively; trounce.

get away with murder Informal.

1. To escape punishment for or detection of an egregiously blameworthy act.

1. Secrets or misdeeds will eventually be disclosed.

[Middle English murther, from Old English morthor.]

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The act of murder is unique to humanity. While animals kill outside of their own species for food, and may fight, wound, or very occasionally kill within species for territory, it is only within mankind that one person — out of malice or rage, for gain or revenge — takes another person's life by violent means. Though most religions and cultures have gone out of their way to define murder as unnatural (the very use of the words ‘cold blooded’ denotes our need to see it as less than human), its continued presence within our history might, if we were more honest, suggest the opposite.

As a central element in the drama of human life, murder has always figured powerfully within culture, but it is only in the last hundred years or so that it has itself become a recognizable art form: the murder mystery. The timing is interesting. It is surely not coincidental that at the same time as medical advances were lengthening human life, writers were finding themselves more and more obsessed by stories about shortening it. Or that as science was chipping away at the notion of God, the murder mystery was busy perfecting itself as a form which, by definition, always answered certain key questions about the mysteries of life: why is it this person who dies rather than another? And — the biggest question of all — who did it? Murder, the most violent of human activities, became in some ways the most reassuring of reads.

Increasingly, science has been playing an ever more powerful role in solving murder, both real and fictional. Where once the art of detection was as much about intuition as about the careful consideration of evidence (the archetypes here are Miss Marple versus Sherlock Holmes), scientific and forensic advances are now the name of the game. DNA testing is just one of a whole series of breakthroughs that have made the laboratory as important as the scene of the crime and the corpse as communicative as any witnesses. While the question ‘why?’ may still be the preserve of the traditional detective, the ‘who?’ and the ‘how?’ are now being answered by men and women in white coats, and their fictional equivalents, a whole rash of hero/heroine pathologists, are becoming the new superstars of the genre. Through them the dead speak. Which, in its own way, is a kind of resurrection of the body. Maybe that explains why, while as a society we fret continually about rising levels of violent crime, culturally speaking we can't seem to get enough of a good murder.

By definition, a murder is a homicide (the killing of one human being by another) that is committed intentionally, or with malice aforethought. All legal codes classify it as a crime; where the element of intent exists and there are no extenuating circumstances, the penalty may be death or life imprisonment. It is thus important that doctors and legal investigators — those routinely confronted by cases of sudden and unexplained death — have some way to determine whether they are dealing with murder, suicide (self-murder), or an accident.

The problem of determining the cause of sudden or accidental death is one of the most important functions of forensic medicine, the application of medical knowledge to the service of the law and the administration of justice. It is a subject which draws upon a wide understanding of the medical, surgical, and scientific consequences of violent assault, poisoning, and other criminal offences against the person. In cases where the victim has died and a charge of murder may be brought, the law relies upon a detailed forensic examination of the corpse (and the crime scene) by trained experts. A careful medicolegal autopsy, performed by a forensic pathologist, can accurately reveal the sequence of events leading up to death, while forensic scientists are able to link the suspect to the victim on the strength of evidence from bloodstains, fibres, hairs, weapons, wounds, etc. Every contact between victim and murderer leaves a physical trace.

Forensic examinations were performed in medieval China and Europe, where surgeons noted the distinctions between fatal and non-fatal wounds, and those made before and after death; the depth, direction, and location of cutting wounds helped to distinguish between suicide and murder. The differences between burning, hanging, and submersion inflicted before and after death were known, but the principal symptoms and internal signs of poisoning were easily mistaken for those of disease. Despite the growing corpus of medical knowledge, however, courts relied for centuries on crude methods of establishing the guilt of accused murderers, who were subjected to trial by ordeal, or tortured to extract confessions. Cruentation — the supposed bleeding of the wounds of a corpse in the presence of the murderer — was popularly accepted as a proof of guilt until the nineteenth century.

Today, murder is assumed if a corpse shows injuries that raise suspicion or give obvious evidence of criminal violence, as in deaths from gunshot or stab wounds, burning, and bludgeoning. When an individual is battered to death, there will be a lot of blood at the scene and defensive wounds on the victim's arms. The instrument used will often leave a discernible pattern on the body. Murder by burning — which is rare — causes contraction of the muscles; the presence of soot or carbon monoxide in the lungs indicates that the victim was alive when the fire began. Stab wounds show the type of blade used and its length; extensive superficial wounding usually indicates suicide. Bullet wounds can indicate the distance and position from which a gun was fired, thus determining whether a death was murder or suicide. If a weapon is not found at the scene there is a strong presumption of murder, but sometimes the most severe wounds do not cause instantaneous death; suicides are occasionally able to walk some distance before collapsing.

When signs of mortal wounding are lacking, asphyxiation (resulting from inhalation of noxious fumes or smoke, drowning, hanging, smothering, or strangling) and poisoning are considered. Murder by strangulation is done with the hands or with a ligature (throttling). In both cases bodies exhibit blue lips and tiny haemorrhages on the face and eyes (petechiae). Victims strangled by hand have ‘fingertip’ bruises on the throat, and fractures of the hyoid bone of the voice box, while in throttling deaths the ligature is either present or will have left a distinctive groove on the neck. Self-throttling is possible, but self-strangulation by hand is not. Murder by hanging rarely occurs, but bodies are sometimes suspended after being murdered, to simulate suicidal hanging (which is common) ; when this is the case there will be other marks of violence on the corpse. Signs of vital reaction around the constriction mark on the neck indicate that the victim was alive when hanged. When neither is present, a medical opinion may be difficult to reach.

Drowning deaths are diagnosed by the presence of froth in the air passages, water in the stomach, and ballooning of the lungs; circumstantial evidence is required to distinguish between murder, suicide, and accident. The presence of microscopic algae (diatoms) in the circulatory system and internal organs can help to locate where the victim died, as they vary from place to place. No diatoms are found in the bodies of individuals murdered and then thrown into water. Smothering deaths leave few traces, but there may be evidence of pressure on the face and bloodstained froth from the nostrils; fibres found in the airways of the victim may prove that a specific soft object was used to prevent breathing. Deaths resulting from inhalation of irrespirable gases are usually suicides or accidents; circumstantial evidence may indicate murder. Lastly, only a small percentage of modern murderers use poison, which can be detected by chemical analysis (forensic toxicology).

If a murder victim remains unidentified, so does the murderer. But it is possible to gain a great deal of information from a dead body, or from parts thereof. When all that remains is a skeleton, its age, sex, height, and race can be determined. Bones will show evidence of physical deformities, right- or left-handedness, and sometimes diseases or other medical conditions. Teeth are nearly impossible to destroy, and are thus an ideal means of identification. When murder is suspected only after burial, it is possible to prove even after a number of years have elapsed. Some details will be lost (for example, putrefaction and time destroy all evidence of death from drowning), but cause of death can usually be determined following exhumation and forensic autopsy. In essence, dead men do tell tales.

— Sarah Dunant

— Katherine D. Watson

See also autopsy; drowning; poisoning; skeleton; strangulation; suffocation.

noun

The crime of murdering someone: blood, homicide, killing. Slang hit. See help/harm/harmless.

verb

To take the life of (a person or persons) unlawfully: destroy, finish (off), kill¹, liquidate, slay. Informal put away. Slang bump off, do in, knock off, off, rub out, waste, wipe out, zap. See help/harm/harmless.

Idioms beginning with murder:
murder will out

In addition to the idiom beginning with murder, also see get away with (murder); scream bloody murder.

Definition: kill
Antonyms: guard, preserve, protect, save

Whenever a person was found murdered and there was no evidence leading to the guilty party, the elders of the city in which the body was found, or the city closest to where it was found, had to take responsibility, and a heifer had to be beheaded (eglah arufah; see Deut. 21:1-9). The elders then had to declare that they were not to blame. The ceremony served to convey to all the severity of the crime. However, once murders increased, the laws of eglah arufah lapsed, since the law had lost its deterrent value.

Under certain circumstances it is permitted to kill another person: for example, in self-defense or to prevent a person in hot pursuit of another (rodef) from killing him or to prevent a sexual crime such as rape. In all of the above, though, killing is permissible only if there is no other way to prevent the crime. In Israel, Capital Punishment for murder is only applicable in the case of genocide, and Adolf Eichmann is the only murderer to have been executed on Israeli soil.

In earlier centuries, chapbooks and broadsides catered for public curiosity about crimes; many were based on murder trials and (real or alleged) confessions of murderers before they were hanged, garnished with sensational details and moralizing comments, and often with folkloric details. For instance, the murder of Maria Marten by her lover at Polstead (Suffolk) in 1827 was supposedly discovered because her mother dreamt three times of the ‘Red Barn’ where her corpse was hidden; the case became so famous that models of the barn were sold as souvenirs.

A tradition frequently found is that a spot where murder has been committed is marked for ever—if indoors, by an indelible bloodstain; if out of doors, by the fact that no grass will grow there. Evelyn's Diary for 8 July 1656 records an example at Colchester, and Robert Southey describes a field near London called ‘The Brothers' Steps’, where two brothers killed one another in a duel over a woman, and their tracks remain visible (Common-Place Book, 2nd series (1849), 20-1). The belief is still with us; the latest reference in Opie and Tatem (1989: 271) is from 1978.

‘Murder will out’ was a maxim widely believed, which might prove true in strange ways. The victim's ghost might haunt the murderer until he confessed, or the corpse bleed at its murderer's touch. At Kockin (Shropshire) in 1590 a man named Thomas Elks drowned his little nephew to get an inheritance, fled, and was caught; the story told some hundred years later was that his hiding-place was revealed by the cry of ravens, which had followed him ever since his crime (Richard Gough, The History of Myddle (1701; 1981 edn. 122).

A ballad known both in England and Scotland (Child, no. 10, ‘The Twa Sisters’) tells how one sister drowned another through jealousy, but when the corpse was found a musician made a harp or a fiddle from the bones which sang by itself to denounce the crime. The same plot also existed as a folktale, versions, of which have recently been collected from teenagers (Wilson, 1997: 119-34). Nowadays the girl is killed by her boyfriend, brother, or husband, and it is he who makes the instrument, a piano, which later reveals the crime. The tale includes rhymes and, eventually, a shriek:

Mother, mother, you're playing on my bones,
Someone killed me and stole my precious stones …
Davey, Davey, you're playing on my bones,
Someone killed me—YOU KILLED ME!

The unlawful killing of another human being without justification or excuse.

Murder is perhaps the single most serious criminal offense. Depending on the circumstances surrounding the killing, a person convicted of murder may be sentenced to many years in prison, a prison sentence with no possibility of parole, or death.

The precise definition of murder varies from jurisdiction to jurisdiction. Under the common law, or law made by courts, murder was the unlawful killing of a human being with malice aforethought. The term malice aforethought did not necessarily mean that the killer planned or premeditated on the killing, or that the killer felt malice toward the victim. Generally, malice aforethought referred to a level of intent or recklessness that separated murder from other killings and warranted stiffer punishment.

The definition of murder has evolved over several centuries. Under most modern statutes in the United States, murder comes in four varieties: (1) intentional murder, (2) a killing that resulted from the intent to do serious bodily injury, (3) a killing that resulted from a depraved heart or extreme recklessness, and (4) murder committed by an accomplice during the commission of, attempt of, or flight from certain felonies.

Some jurisdictions still use the term malice aforethought to define intentional murder, but many have changed or elaborated on the term to describe more clearly a murderous state of mind. California has retained the malice aforethought definition of murder (Cal. Penal Code § 187 [West 1996]). California also maintains a statute that defines the term malice. Under section 188 of the California Penal Code, malice is divided into two types: express and implied. Express malice exists "when there is manifested a deliberate intention unlawfully to take away the life of a fellow creature." Malice may be implied by a judge or jury "when no considerable provocation appears, or when the circumstances attending the killing show an abandoned and malignant heart."

Many states use the California definition of implied malice to describe an unintentional killing that is charged as murder because the defendant intended to do serious bodily injury or acted with extreme recklessness. For example, if an aggressor punches a victim in the nose, intending only to injure the victim's face, the aggressor may be charged with murder if the victim dies from the blow. The infliction of serious bodily injury becomes the equivalent of an intent to kill when the victim dies. Although the aggressor did not have the express desire to kill the victim, the aggressor in such a case would not be charged with assault, but murder. To understand why, it is helpful to consider the alternative. When a person dies at the hands of an aggressor, it does not sit well with the public conscience to preclude a murder charge simply because the aggressor intended only to do serious bodily injury.

A person who unintentionally causes the death of another person also may be charged with murder under the depraved-heart theory. Depraved-heart murder refers to a killing that results from gross negligence. For example, assume that a man is practicing shooting his firearm in his backyard, located in a suburban area. If the man accidentally shoots and kills someone, he can be charged with murder under the depraved-heart theory.

Most states also have a felony murder statute. Under the felony murder doctrine, a person who attempts or commits a specified felony may be held responsible for a death caused by an accomplice in the commission of the felony, an attempt to commit the felony, or flight from the felony or attempted felony. For example, if two persons rob a bank and during the robbery one of them shoots and kills a security guard, the perpetrator who did not pull the trigger may nevertheless be charged with murder.

The felonies that most commonly give rise to a felony murder charge are murder, rape, robbery, burglary, kidnapping, and arson. Many states add to this list. Maine, for example, adds gross sexual assault and escape from lawful custody (Me. Rev. Stat. Ann. tit. 17-A, § 202 [West 1996]). Generally, felony murder exists only if the death was a reasonably foreseeable consequence of the felony, a felony attempt, or flight from the crime. For example, courts have held that death is a reasonably foreseeable consequence of armed robbery.

Most states divide the crime of murder into first and second degrees. In such states any intentional, unlawful killing done without justification or excuse is considered second-degree murder. The offense usually is punished with a long prison term or a prison term for life without the possibility of parole. Second-degree murder can be upgraded to first-degree murder, a more serious offense than second-degree murder, if the murder was accomplished with an aggravating or a special circumstance. An aggravating or a special circumstance is something that makes the crime especially heinous or somehow worthy of extra punishment.

California lists some twenty different special circumstances that can boost a murder from second to first degree, including murder carried out for financial gain; murder committed with an explosive; murder committed to avoid or prevent a lawful arrest; murder to perfect or attempt an escape from lawful custody; murder of a law enforcement officer, prosecutor, judge, or elected, appointed, or former government official; murder committed in an especially heinous, atrocious, or cruel fashion where the killer lay in wait for, or hid from, the victim, where the victim was tortured by the killer, where the killer used poison, or where the killing occurred during the commission of, aid of, or flight from certain felonies. These felonies include rape, robbery, kidnapping, burglary, arson, train wrecking, sodomy, the performance of a lewd or lascivious act upon a child under age fourteen, and oral copulation with a child under age fourteen (Cal. Penal Code § 190.2 [West 1996]).

If a murder does not qualify by statute for first-degree murder, it is charged as second-degree murder. A second-degree murder may be downgraded to manslaughter if mitigating factors were involved in the killing, such as adequate provocation by the victim or the absence of intent or recklessness on the part of the defendant.

Maine is an example of a state that has simplified the law of murder. In Maine a person is guilty of murder if he or she intentionally or knowingly causes the death of another human being, engages in conduct that manifests a depraved indifference to the value of human life and causes death, or intentionally or knowingly causes another human being to commit suicide by the use of force, duress, or deception (Me. Stat. tit. 17-A § 201 [1996]). Maine also has a felony murder statute. It does not divide murder into degrees.

Sentencing for murder varies from state to state, and according to degrees in the states that have them. Second-degree murder usually is punished with more than twenty years in prison. A person convicted of second-degree murder in Minnesota, for example, may be sentenced to prison for not more than forty years. Some states, such as California, allow a sentence up to life in prison for second-degree murder.

In some states that have a first-degree murder charge, the crime is punished with a life term in prison without the possibility of parole. In other states first-degree murder is punishable by death. A defendant's criminal history may affect sentencing for a murder conviction. The greater the criminal history, the more time the defendant is likely to serve. The criminal history of a murder defendant may even cause a murder charge to be upgraded from second degree to first degree. In California, for example, a murder defendant who has a prior conviction for murder faces an automatic first-degree murder charge.

The best defenses to a murder charge are provocation and self-defense. If the defendant acted completely in self-defense, this may relieve the defendant of all criminal liability. If it does not relieve the defendant of all liability, self-defense at least may reduce the charge from murder to manslaughter. Provocation rarely results in complete absolution, but it may reduce the defendant's criminal liability. For example, assume that a family is being tormented by a neighbor for no apparent reason. The neighbor has damaged the family's property, assaulted the children, and killed the family dog. If the father kills the neighbor and is charged with murder, the father may argue that the provocation by the victim was so great that if he is to be found criminally liable at all, he should be found liable for manslaughter, not murder.

Insanity is another defense to a murder charge. If a defendant was suffering from such a defect of the mind that she did not know what she was doing, or she did not know that what she was doing was wrong, she may be found not guilty by reason of insanity. In some states the defendant may be found guilty but mentally ill. In either case the result is the same: the defendant is confined to a mental institution instead of a prison.

The modern law of murder is relatively static, but minor changes are occasionally proposed or implemented. Some legislatures have debated the idea of striking assisted suicide from murder statutes. Some have considered proposals making doctors liable for murder if they perform a third-term abortion. Many have made changes with respect to juveniles. Juveniles accused of murder used to be tried in juvenile courts, but in the 1980s and 1990s, legislatures passed laws to make juvenile murder defendants over the ages of fourteen or fifteen stand trial as adults. This is significant because a juvenile defendant convicted in the juvenile justice system may go free on reaching a certain age, such as twenty-one. A juvenile defendant tried in adult court does not have such an opportunity and may be sentenced to prison for many years, or for life without parole. A juvenile may be put to death on conviction for murder but only if he was age sixteen or older at the time of the offense (Thompson v. Oklahoma, 487 U.S. 815, 108 S. Ct. 2687, 101 L. Ed. 2d 702 [1988]).

See: Capital Punishment; Criminal Law; Death and Dying; Felony-Murder Rule; Homicide; Insanity Defense; Juvenile Law.

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Quotes:

"Murder is unique in that it abolishes the party it injures, so that society has to take the place of the victim and on his behalf demand atonement or grant forgiveness; it is the one crime in which society has a direct interest." - W. H. Auden

"It's frightening how easy it is to commit murder in America. Just a drink too much. I can see myself doing it. In England, one feels all the social restraints holding one back. But here, anything can happen." - W. H. Auden

"After all, every murderer when he kills runs the risk of the most dreadful of deaths, whereas those who kill him risk nothing except promotion." - Albert Camus

"The boys with their feet on the desks know that the easiest murder case in the world to break is the one somebody tried to get very cute with; the one that really bothers them is the murder somebody only thought of two minutes before he pulled it off." - Raymond Chandler

"Murders are exciting and lift people into a heart-beating awe as religion is supposed to do, after seeing one in the street young couples will go back to bed and make love, people will cross themselves and thank God for the gift of their stuporous lives, old folks will talk to each other over cups of hot water with lemon because murders are enlivened sermons to be analyzed and considered and relished, they speak to the timid of the dangers of rebellion, murders are perceived as momentary descents of God and so provide joy and hope and righteous satisfaction to parishioners, who will talk about them for years afterward to anyone who will listen." - E. L. Doctorow

"Murder in the murderer is no such ruinous thought as poets and romancers will have it; it does not unsettle him, or fright him from his ordinary notice of trifles; it is an act quite easy to be contemplated." - Ralph Waldo Emerson

See more famous quotes about Murder

Murder symbolizes aggression and repressed rage at oneself or others. If the dreamer is murdered, the release of obstacles in one's life or a major transformation may be indicated. (See also Kill/Killing).

• Crimes, Criminals, and Civil Offenders - murder: taking of another’s life, esp. by deliberate and premeditated design
• Crimes - murder: taking of human life for no defensible reason
• Unnatural Deaths - murder: unlawful taking of another’s life with malicious intent
• Murder and Suicide - murder: unlawful taking of another’s life with malicious intent; (vb) commit an act of murder; Slang blow away, bump off, chill, dispatch, dispose of, do away with, do in, dust, grease, knock off, off, rub out, snuff out, stretch out, whack, waste, wax, zap

"Murderer" redirects here. For other uses, see Murderer (disambiguation).

For other uses, see Murder (disambiguation).

This article may be too technical for most readers to understand. Please help improve this article to make it understandable to non-experts, without removing the technical details. The talk page may contain suggestions. (June 2011)

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v d e

Murder is the unlawful killing, with malice aforethought, of another human, and generally this state of mind distinguishes murder from other forms of unlawful homicide (such as manslaughter). As the loss of a human being inflicts enormous grief upon the individuals close to the victim, as well as the fact that the commission of a murder is highly detrimental to the good order within society, most societies both present and in antiquity have considered it a most serious crime worthy of the harshest of punishment. In most countries, a person convicted of murder is typically given a long prison sentence, possibly a life sentence where permitted, and in some countries, the death penalty may be imposed for such an act — though this practice is becoming less common.^[1] In most countries, there is no statute of limitations for murder (no time limit for prosecuting someone for murder). A person who commits murder is called a murderer .^[2]

Contents 1 Legal analysis of murder 2 Origins 3 Legal definition 3.1 At common law 3.2 Exclusions 3.2.1 Self-defense 3.3 Victim 3.4 Mitigating circumstances 3.4.1 Insanity 3.4.2 Post-partum depression 3.4.3 Unintentional 3.4.4 Diminished capacity 3.5 Aggravating circumstances 3.6 Year-and-a-day rule 4 Epidemiology 4.1 History 5 Country-specific murder law 5.1 Degrees of murder by country 6 See also 7 References 7.1 Bibliography 8 External links

Legal analysis of murder

William Blackstone (citing Edward Coke), in his Commentaries on the Laws of England set out the common law definition of murder, which by this definition occurs

when a person, of sound memory and discretion, unlawfully kills any reasonable creature in being and under the king's peace, with malice aforethought, either express or implied.^[3]

The elements of common law murder are:

1. Unlawful
2. killing
3. of a human
4. by another human
5. with malice aforethought.^[4]

The Unlawful—This distinguishes murder from killings that are done within the boundaries of law, such as an execution or the killing of enemy soldiers during a war.

Killing—At common law life ended with cardiopulmonary arrest^[4]—the total and permanent cessation of blood circulation and respiration.^[4] With advances in medical technology courts have adopted irreversible cessation of all brain function as marking the end of life.^[4]

of a human—This element presents the issue of when life begins. At common law a foetus was not a human being. Life began when the foetus passed through the birth canal and took its first breath.^[4]

by another human—at early common law suicide was considered murder.^[4] The requirement that the person killed be someone other than the perpetrator excluded suicide from the definition of murder.

with malice aforethought—originally malice aforethought carried its everyday meaning—a deliberate and premeditated killing of another motivated by ill will. Murder necessarily required that an appreciable time pass between the formation and execution of the intent to kill. The courts broadened the scope of murder by eliminating the requirement of actual premeditation and deliberation as well as true malice. All that was required for malice aforethought to exist is that the perpetrator act with one of the four states of mind that constitutes "malice."

The four states of mind recognized as constituting "malice" are:

1. Intent to kill,
2. Intent to inflict grievous bodily harm short of death,
3. Reckless indifference to an unjustifiably high risk to human life (sometimes described as an "abandoned and malignant heart"), or
4. Intent to commit a dangerous felony (the "felony-murder" doctrine).

Under state of mind (i), intent to kill, the deadly weapon rule applies. Thus, if the defendant intentionally uses a deadly weapon or instrument against the victim, such use authorizes a permissive inference of intent to kill. In other words, "intent follows the bullet." Examples of deadly weapons and instruments include but are not limited to guns, knives, deadly toxins or chemicals or gases and even vehicles when intentionally used to harm a victim.

Under state of mind (iii), an "abandoned and malignant heart", the killing must result from defendant's conduct involving a reckless indifference to human life and a conscious disregard of an unreasonable risk of death or serious bodily injury. An example of this is a 2007 law in California where an individual could be convicted of third-degree murder if he or she kills another person while operating a motor vehicle while being under the influence of alcohol, drugs, or controlled substances.

Under state of mind (iv), the felony-murder doctrine, the felony committed must be an inherently dangerous felony, such as burglary, arson, rape, robbery or kidnapping. Importantly, the underlying felony cannot be a lesser included offense such as assault, otherwise all criminal homicides would be murder as all are felonies.

Many jurisdictions divide murder by degrees. The most common divisions are between first and second degree murder. Generally, second degree murder is common law murder, and first degree is an aggravated form. The aggravating factors of first degree murder are a specific intent to kill, premeditation, and deliberation. In addition, murder committed by acts such as strangulation, poisoning, or lying in wait are also treated as first degree murder.^[5]

Origins

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In the past, certain types of homicide were lawful and justified. Georg Oesterdiekhoff wrote that:

Evans-Pritchard says about the Nuer from Sudan: "Homicide is not forbidden, and Nuer do not think it wrong to kill a man in fair fight. On the contrary, a man who slays another in combat is admired for his courage and skill." (Evans-Pritchard 1956: 195) This statement is true for most African tribes, for pre-modern Europeans, for Black Australians, and for Native Americans, according to ethnographic reports from all over the world. ... Homicides rise to incredible numbers among headhunter cultures such as the Papua. When a boy is born, the father has to kill a man. He needs a name for his child and can receive it only by a man, he himself has murdered. When a man wants to marry, he must kill a man. When a man dies, his family again has to kill a man.^[6]

One of the oldest known prohibitions against murder appears in the Sumerian Code of Ur-Nammu written sometime between 2100 and 2050 BC. The code states, "If a man commits a murder, that man must be killed." The payment of weregild was an important legal mechanism in early Germanic society. If someone was killed, the guilty person would have to pay weregild to the victim's family. The other common form of legal reparation at this time was blood revenge.

In Judeo-Christian traditions, the prohibition against murder is one of the Ten Commandments given by God to Moses in (Exodus: 20v13) and (Deuteronomy 5v17) (See Murder in the Bible). The Vulgate and subsequent early English translations of the Bible used the term secretly killeth his neighbour or smiteth his neighbour secretly rather than murder for the Latin clam percusserit proximum.^[7][8]

Later editions such as Young's Literal Translation and the World English Bible have translated the Latin occides simply as murder^[9][10] rather than the alternatives of kill, assassinate, fall upon or slay. Christian churches have some doctrinal differences about what forms of homicide are prohibited biblically, though all agree that murder is prohibited.^{[citation needed]}

In Islam according to the Qur'an, one of the greatest sins is to kill a human being who has committed no fault. "For that cause We decreed for the Children of Israel that whosoever killeth a human being for other than manslaughter or corruption in the earth, it shall be as if he had killed all mankind, and whoso saveth the life of one, it shall be as if he had saved the life of all mankind."^{[Quran 5:32]} "And those who cry not unto any other god along with Allah, nor take the life which Allah hath forbidden save in (course of) justice, nor commit adultery - and whoso doeth this shall pay the penalty."^{[Quran 25:68]}

The term 'Assassin' derives from Hashshashin,^[11] a militant Ismaili Shi-ite sect, active from the eighth to the fourteenth centuries. This mystic secret society killed members of the Abbasid, Fatimid, Seljuq and Crusader elite for political and religious reasons.^[12] The Thuggee cult that plagued India was devoted to Kali, the goddess of death and destruction.^[13][14] According to some estimates the Thuggees murdered 1 million people between 1740 and 1840.^[15] The Aztecs believed that without regular offerings of blood the sun god Huitzilopochtli would withdraw his support for them and destroy the world as they knew it.^[16] According to Ross Hassig, author of Aztec Warfare, "between 10,000 and 80,400 persons" were sacrificed in the 1487 re-consecration of the Great Pyramid of Tenochtitlan.^[17][18]

Legal definition

As with most legal terms, the precise definition of murder varies between jurisdictions and is usually codified in some form of legislation.

At common law

According to Blackstone, English common law identified murder as a public wrong.^[19] At common law, murder is considered to be malum in se, that is an act which is evil within itself. An act such as murder is wrong/evil by its very nature. And it is the very nature of the act which does not require any specific detailing or definition in the law to consider murder a crime.^[20]

Some jurisdictions still take a common law view of murder. In such jurisdictions, precedent case law or previous decisions of the courts of law defines what is considered murder. However, it tends to be rare and the majority of jurisdictions have some statutory prohibition against murder.

Exclusions

• Unlawful killings without malice or intent are considered manslaughter.
• Justified or accidental killings are considered homicides. Depending on the circumstances, these may or may not be considered criminal offenses.
• Suicide is not considered murder in most societies. Assisting a suicide, however, may be considered murder in some circumstances.
• Capital punishment ordered by a legitimate court of law as the result of a conviction in a criminal trial with due process for a serious crime.
• Killing of enemy combatants by lawful combatants in accordance with lawful orders in war, although illicit killings within a war may constitute murder or homicidal war crimes. (see the Laws of war article)
• The administration of lethal drugs by a doctor to a terminally ill patient, if the intention is solely to alleviate pain, is seen in many jurisdictions as a special case (see the doctrine of double effect and the case of Dr John Bodkin Adams).^[21]
• In some cases, killing a person who is attempting to kill another is classified as self-defense and thus, not murder.

Self-defense

Acting in self-defense or in defense of another person is generally accepted as legal justification for killing a person in situations that would otherwise have been murder. However, a self-defense killing might be considered manslaughter if the killer established control of the situation before the killing took place. In the case of self-defense it is called a "justifiable homicide".^[22] A killing simply to prevent the theft of one's property may not be a justifiable homicide, depending on the laws of a place.

Victim

All jurisdictions require that the victim be a natural person; that is a human being who was still alive at the time of being murdered. In other words, under the law, one cannot murder a cadaver, a corporation, a non-human animal, or any other non-human organism^{[clarification needed]}.

California's murder statute, Penal Code Section 187, was interpreted by the Supreme Court of California in 1994 as not requiring any proof of the viability of the fetus as a prerequisite to a murder conviction.^[23] This holding has two implications. The first is a defendant in California can be convicted of murder for killing a fetus which the mother herself could have terminated without committing a crime.^[23] The second, as stated by Justice Stanley Mosk in his dissent, because women carrying nonviable fetuses may not be visibly pregnant, it may be possible for a defendant to be convicted of intentionally murdering a person he did not know existed.^[23]

Mitigating circumstances

Some countries allow conditions that "affect the balance of the mind" to be regarded as mitigating circumstances. This means that a person may be found guilty of "manslaughter" on the basis of "diminished responsibility" rather than murder, if it can be proved that the killer was suffering from a condition that affected their judgment at the time. Depression, post-traumatic stress disorder and medication side-effects are examples of conditions that may be taken into account when assessing responsibility.

Insanity

Mental disorder may apply to a wide range of disorders including psychosis caused by schizophrenia and dementia, and excuse the person from the need to undergo the stress of a trial as to liability. Usually, sociopathy and other personality disorders are not legally considered insanity, because of the belief they are the result of free will in many societies. In some jurisdictions, following the pre-trial hearing to determine the extent of the disorder, the defense of "not guilty by reason of insanity" may be used to get a not guilty verdict.^[24] This defense has two elements:

1. That the defendant had a serious mental illness, disease, or defect.
2. That the defendant's mental condition, at the time of the killing, rendered the perpetrator unable to determine right from wrong, or that what he or she was doing was wrong.

Under New York law, for example:

§ 40.15 Mental disease or defect. In any prosecution for an offense, it is an affirmative defense that when the defendant engaged in the proscribed conduct, he lacked criminal responsibility by reason of mental disease or defect. Such lack of criminal responsibility means that at the time of such conduct, as a result of mental disease or defect, he lacked substantial capacity to know or appreciate either: 1. The nature and consequences of such conduct; or 2. That such conduct was wrong.

Under the French Penal Code:

Article 122-1

• A person is not criminally liable who, when the act was committed, was suffering from a psychological or neuropsychological disorder which destroyed his discernment or his ability to control his actions.
• A person who, at the time he acted, was suffering from a psychological or neuropsychological disorder which reduced his discernment or impeded his ability to control his actions, remains punishable; however, the court shall take this into account when it decides the penalty and determines its regime.

Those who successfully argue a defense based on a mental disorder are usually referred to mandatory clinical treatment until they are certified safe to be released back into the community, rather than prison.^[25]

Post-partum depression

Some countries, such as Brazil, Canada, Mexico, Italy, Norway, Sweden, the United Kingdom, New Zealand and Australia, allow postpartum depression (also known as post-natal depression) as a defense against murder of a child by a mother, provided that a child is less than two years old (this may be the specific offense of infanticide rather than murder and include the effects of lactation and other aspects of post-natal care).^{[citation needed]}

Unintentional

For a killing to be considered murder, there normally needs to be an element of intent. For this argument to be successful, the killer generally needs to demonstrate that they took precautions not to kill and that the death could not have been anticipated or was unavoidable, whatever action they took. As a general rule, manslaughter^[26] constitutes reckless killing, while criminally negligent homicide is a grossly negligent killing.^[27]

Diminished capacity

In those jurisdictions using the Uniform Penal Code, such as California, diminished capacity may be a defense. For example, Dan White used this defense^[28] to obtain a manslaughter conviction, instead of murder, in the assassination of Mayor George Moscone and Supervisor Harvey Milk.

Aggravating circumstances

American Ryan Holle was convicted of first-degree murder for lending his car to a friend. He was convicted under a legal doctrine known as the felony murder rule.^[29]

Murder with specified aggravating circumstances is often punished more harshly. Depending on the jurisdiction, such circumstances may include:

• Premeditation
• Poisoning
• Murder of a police officer, judge, fireman or witness to a crime^[30]
• Where the victim was a pregnant woman^[31]
• Committed for pay or other reward^[32]
• Exceptional brutality or cruelty

In the United States, these murders are referred to as first-degree or aggravated murders.

Year-and-a-day rule

Main article: Year and a day rule

In some common law jurisdictions, a defendant accused of murder is not guilty if the victim survives for longer than one year and one day after the attack.^[33] This reflects the likelihood that if the victim dies, other factors will have contributed to the cause of death, breaking the chain of causation. Subject to any statute of limitations, the accused could still be charged with an offence representing the seriousness of the initial assault.

With advances in modern medicine, most countries have abandoned a fixed time period and test causation on the facts of the case.

In England and Wales, due to medical advancements, the "year-and-a-day-rule" is no longer in use. However, if death occurs three years or more after the original attack then prosecution can take place only with the Attorney-General's approval.

In the United States, many jurisdictions have abolished the rule as well.^[34][35] Abolition of the rule has been accomplished by enactment of statutory criminal codes, which had the effect of displacing the common-law definitions of crimes and corresponding defenses. In 2001, the Supreme Court of the United States held that retroactive application of a state supreme court decision abolishing the year-and-a-day rule did not violate the Ex Post Facto Clause of Article I of the United States Constitution.^[36]

In Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, a 74-year-old man, William Barnes, was acquitted of murder charges on May 24, 2010. He was on trial for murder for the death of Philadelphia police officer Walter Barkley. Barnes shot Barkley on November 27, 1966, and served 16 years in prison for attempted murder. Barkley died on August 19, 2007, allegedly from complications of the wounds suffered nearly 41 years earlier.^[37]

Epidemiology

See also: List of countries by intentional homicide rate

Murders (per 100,000 people per annum) (1998-2000) by country

An estimated 520,000 people were murdered in 2000 around the globe. Two-fifths of them were young people between the ages of 10 and 29 who were killed by other young people.^[38] Because murder is the least likely crime to go unreported, statistics of murder are seen as a bellwether of overall crime rates.^[39]

Murder rates vary greatly among countries and societies around the world. In the Western world, murder rates in most countries have declined significantly during the 20th century and are now between 1-4 cases per 100,000 people per year. Murder rates in Japan, Ireland and Iceland are among the lowest in the world, around 0.5 cases per 100,000 people per year; the rate of the United States is among the highest of developed countries, around 5.5 in 2004,^[40] with rates in larger cities sometimes over 40 per 100,000.^[41] In the United States, 666,160 people were killed between 1960 and 1996.^[42] Canada, on the other hand, experienced much lower per capita rates of murder - less than 60,000 were murdered over the same time period.

Approximately 90% of murders are committed by males ^[43] Between 1976 and 2005, 23.5% of all murder victims and 64.8% of victims murdered by intimate partners were female. ^[44] For women in the US, homicide is the leading cause of death in the workplace.^[45] There is a sharp peak in the age distribution of murderers between the ages of 18 and 30.^{[citation needed]} People become less likely to commit a murder as they age.

The following absolute murder counts per-country are not comparable because they are not adjusted by each country's total population. Nonetheless, they are included here for reference. There were an estimated 43,016 murders in Brazil in 2010, down from 51,043 in 2003.^[46][47] 32,719 murder cases were registered across India in 2007, about 30,000 murders committed annually in the early 2000s (down to 17000 in 2009) in Russia, approximately 16,000^[48] murders in Colombia in 2009 (the murder rate was 36 per 100,000 people, in 2005 murders went down to 15,000^[49]), approximately 20,000 murders each year in South Africa, approximately 17,000 murders in the United States, approximately 15,000 murders in Mexico, approximately 16,000 murders in Venezuela,^[50] approximately 6,000 murders in El Salvador, approximately 1,600 murders in Jamaica,^[51] approximately 1,000 murders in France, approximately 580 murders per year in Canada,^[52] approximately 560 murders in Trinidad and Tobago ^[53] and approximately 200 murders in Chile.^[54] The murder rate in Port Moresby, Papua New Guinea is 23 times that of London.^[55] Pakistan reported 9,631 murders.^[56]

Murder in Rio de Janeiro. More than 500,000 people died from gun violence in Brazil between 1979 and 2003.^[57]

In the US, murder is the leading cause of death for African American males aged 15 to 34. In 2006, Federal Bureau of Investigation's Supplementary Homicide Report indicated that most of the 14,990 murder victims were Black (7421).^[58] In the year 2007 non-negligent homicides, there were 3,221 black victims and 3,587 white victims. While 2,905 of the black victims were killed by a black offender, 2,918 of the white victims were killed by white offenders. There were 566 white victims of black offenders and 245 black victims of white offenders.^[59] It should be noted that the "white" category in the Uniform Crime Reports (UCR) includes non-black Hispanics.^[60] In London in 2006, 75% of the victims of gun crime and 79% of the suspects were "from the African/Caribbean community."^[61] Murder demographics are affected by the improvement of trauma care, which has resulted in reduced lethality of violent assaults—thus the murder rate may not necessarily indicate the overall level of social violence.^[62]

Workplace homicide is the fastest growing category of murder in America.^[63]

Development of murder rates over time in different countries is often used by both supporters and opponents of capital punishment and gun control. Using properly filtered data, it is possible to make the case for or against either of these issues. For example, one could look at murder rates in the United States from 1950 to 2000,^[64] and notice that those rates went up sharply shortly after a moratorium on death sentences was effectively imposed in the late 1960s. This fact has been used to argue that capital punishment serves as a deterrent and, as such, it is morally justified. Capital punishment opponents frequently counter that the United States has much higher murder rates than Canada and most European Union countries, although all those countries have abolished the death penalty. Overall, the global pattern is too complex, and on average, the influence of both these factors may not be significant and could be more social, economic, and cultural.

Despite the immense improvements in forensics in the past few decades, the fraction of murders solved has decreased in the United States, from 90% in 1960 to 61% in 2007.^[65] Solved murder rates in major U.S. cities varied in 2007 from 36% in Boston, Massachusetts to 76% in San Jose, California.^[66] Major factors affecting the arrest rate include witness cooperation^[65] and the number of people assigned to investigate the case.^[66]

History

The murder of the Archduke Franz Ferdinand of Austria triggered the start of World War I. This picture was long believed to depict the culprit, Gavrilo Princip, though the person arrested is allegedly one of Princip's accomplices.

According to scholar Pieter Spierenburg murder rates per 100,000 in Europe have fallen over the centuries, from 35 per 100,000 in medieval times, to 20 in 1500 AD, 5 in 1700, to below two per 100,000 in 1900.^[67]

In the United States, murder rates have been higher and have fluctuated. They fell below 2 per 100,000 by 1900, rose during the first half of the century, dropped in the years following World War II, bottomed out at 4.0 in 1957 before rising again.^[68] The rate stayed in 9 to 10 range most of the period from 1972 to 1994, before falling to 5 in present times.^[67] The increase since 1957 would have been even greater if not for the significant improvements in medical techniques and emergency response times, which mean that more and more attempted homicide victims survive. According to one estimate, if the lethality levels of criminal assaults of 1964 still applied in 1993, the country would have seen the murder rate of around 26 per 100,000, almost triple the actually observed rate of 9.5 per 100,000.^[69]

A similar, but less pronounced pattern has been seen in major European countries as well. The murder rate in the United Kingdom fell to 1 per 100,000 by the beginning of the 20th century and as low as 0.62 per 100,000 in 1960, and was at 1.28 per 100,000 as of 2009^[update]. The murder rate in France (excluding Corsica) bottomed out after World War II at less than 0.4 per 100,000, quadrupling to 1.6 per 100,000 since then.^[70]

The specific factors driving this dynamics in murder rates are complex and not universally agreed upon. Much of the raise in the U.S. murder rate during the first half of the 20th century is generally thought to be attributed to gang violence associated with the Prohibition. Since most murders are committed by young males, the near simultaneous low in the murder rates of major developed countries circa 1960 can be attributed to low birth rates during the Great Depression and World War II. Causes of further moves are more controversial. Some of the more exotic factors claimed to affect murder rates include the availability of abortion^[71] and the likelihood of chronic exposure to lead during childhood (due to the use of leaded paint in houses and tetraethyllead as a gasoline additive in internal combustion engines).

In Corsica, vendetta was a social code that required Corsicans to kill anyone who wronged the family honor. It has been estimated that between 1683 and 1715, nearly 30,000 out of 120,000 Corsicans lost their lives to vendetta,^[72] and between 1821 and 1852, no less than 4,300 murders were perpetrated in Corsica.^[73]

Country-specific murder law

Australia Brazil Canada China Cuba Denmark England and Wales Finland

France Germany Hong Kong India Israel Italy The Netherlands Norway

Peru Portugal Romania Russia Sweden Switzerland United States

Degrees of murder by country

Certain countries employ the concept of first, second, and third degree murder. Canadian law distinguishes first and second degree murder. Both the United States and Peru have respective degrees of first, second, and third degree murder. See Degrees of murder in the United States and Murder (Peruvian Law).

See also

• List of types of murder

Topics related to murder

Capital punishment Crime of passion Culpable homicide Depraved heart murder

Double murder Execution-style murder Felony murder Misdemeanor murder

Murder conviction without a body Seven laws of Noah Stigmatized property Thrill killing

References

1. ^ Tran, Mark (2011-03-28). "China and US among top punishers but death penalty in decline". The Guardian (London). http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2011/mar/28/us-china-death-penalty-amnesty. 
2. ^ Definition of murderer in Merriam Webster's Online Dictionary (2009). Retrieved on 2009-05-17.
3. ^ "Avalon Project - Blackstone's Commentaries on the Laws of England - Book the Fourth - Chapter the Fourteenth : Of Homicide". Avalon Project, Yale University. http://avalon.law.yale.edu/18th_century/blackstone_bk4ch14.asp. Retrieved 2009-05-11. 
4. ^ ^{a b c d e f} Joshua Dressler, Understanding Criminal Law, 3rd ed. (Lexis 2001) ISBN 0-8205-5027-2
5. ^ Murder in the First and Second Degree (14-17) A murder which shall be perpetrated by ... poison, lying in wait, imprisonment, starving, torture, or by any other kind of willful, deliberate and premeditated killing or which shall be committed in the perpetration or attempted perpetration of any arson, rape or sex offense, robbery, kidnapping, burglary, or other felony committed or attempted with the use of a deadly weapon, shall be ... murder in the first degree ... and shall be punished by death or life imprisonment ... except that any person ... under 17 years of age at the time of the murder shall be punished with imprisonment ... for life. All other kinds of murder, including that which shall be proximately caused by the unlawful distribution of opium or any synthetic or natural salt, compound, derivative, or the preparation of opium ... cause the death of the user, shall be ... murder in the second degree and ... shall be punished as a Class C felony. http://www.ncsu.edu/police/Information/NCLaw.html
6. ^ Georg Oesterdiekhoff. The steps of man towards civilization. BoD – Books on Demand. pp.169-170. ISBN 3842342888
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20. ^ A Dictionary of Modern Legal Usage By Bryan A. Garner, p. 545.
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23. ^ ^{a b c} People v. Davis, 7 Cal. 4th 797, 30 Cal. Rptr. 2d 50, 872 P.2d 591 (1994).
24. ^ R. v. M'Naughten, get full cite.
25. ^ "Code de la Santé Publique Chapitre III: Hospitalisation d'office Article L3213-1" (in fr). Legifrance. 2002. http://www.legifrance.gouv.fr/affichCodeArticle.do?cidTexte=LEGITEXT000006072665&idArticle=LEGIARTI000006687933&dateTexte=20080929. Retrieved 2007-10-23. , note: this text refers to the procedure of Involuntary commitment by the demand of the public authority, but the prefect systematically use that procedure whenever a man is discharged due to his dementia.
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28. ^ (the so-called "Twinkie defense").
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31. ^ Murder (Romanian law)
32. ^ Murder (Brazilian law)
33. ^ See State v. Picotte, 2003 WI 42, 261 Wis. 2d 249 (2003)[1](search for "year-and-a-day-rule")
34. ^ People v. Carrillo, 646 N.E.2d 582 (Ill. 1995)
35. ^ State v. Gabehart, 836 P.2d 102 (N.M. 1992)
36. ^ Rogers v. Tennessee, 532 U.S. 451 (2001).
37. ^ CBS News coverage of Barnes' acquittal Accessed May 24, 2010
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50. ^ "Venezuela, More Deadly Than Iraq, Wonders Why". The New York Times. August 22, 2010.
51. ^ "Jamaica "murder capital of the world"". Bbc.co.uk. http://www.bbc.co.uk/caribbean/news/story/2006/01/060103_murderlist.shtml. Retrieved 2010-06-25. 
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53. ^ Trinidad and Tobago Crime Statistic
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57. ^ Kingstone, Steve (2005-06-27). "UN highlights Brazil gun crisis". BBC News. http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/americas/4628813.stm. Retrieved 2010-04-30. 
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62. ^ Harris, Anthony R.; Stephen H. Thomas ; Gene A. Fisher ; David J. Hirsch (May 2002). "Murder and medicine: the lethality of criminal assault 1960-1999" (fee required). Homicide studies 6 (2): 128–166. doi:10.1177/1088767902006002003. http://hsx.sagepub.com/cgi/content/abstract/6/2/128. Retrieved 2006-12-08. 
63. ^ http://www.ojp.usdoj.gov/ovc/publications/infores/probparole/chap6.htm
64. ^ Christopher Effgen (2001-09-11). "Disaster Center web site". Disastercenter.com. http://www.disastercenter.com/crime/uscrime.htm. Retrieved 2010-06-25. 
65. ^ ^{a b} Why Fewer Murder Cases Get Solved These Days by Lewis Beale. 19 May 2009.
66. ^ ^{a b} CS Monitor by Brian Whitley. Christian Science Monitor. 24 December 2008.
67. ^ ^{a b} Spierenburg, Pieter, A History of Murder: Personal Violence in Europe from the Middle Ages to the Present, Polity, 2008. Referred to in "Rap Sheet Why is American history so murderous?" by Jill Lepore New Yorker, November 9, 2009
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69. ^ "Murder and Medicine: The Lethality of Criminal Assault 1960-1999". http://people.umass.edu/zguo/iraqi%20war%20/murder%20and%20medicine.pdf. 
70. ^ Randolph Roth (October 2009). "American Homicide Supplemental Volume (AHSV), European Homicides (EH)". http://cjrc.osu.edu/researchprojects/hvd/AHSV/tables/AHSV%20European%20Homicides.pdf. 
71. ^ "Freakonomics", Steven D. Levitt, Stephen J. Dubner, 2005, ISBN 006073132X
72. ^ "Corsican Soup and Pulp Fiction"
73. ^ "Wanderings in Corsica: its history and its heroes". Ferdinand Gregorovius (1855). p.196.

Bibliography

• Lord Mustill on the Common Law concerning murder
• Sir Edward Coke Co. Inst., Pt. III, ch.7, p. 50

External links

Look up murder in Wiktionary, the free dictionary.

Wikimedia Commons has media related to: Murder

• Murder in the UK - detailed site
• 1986 Seville Statement on Violence (from UNESCO)
• "This Could Never Happen to Me - A Handbook for Families of Murder Victims and People Who Assist Them" - Hosted by the Texas Department of Criminal Justice
• Introduction and Updated Information on the Seville Statement on Violence
• U.S. Centers for Disease Control "Atlas of United States Mortality"
• Cezanne's depiction of "The Murder"

v d e Death and related topics In medicine Abortion Autopsy Brain death Clinical death End-of-life care Euthanasia Lazarus syndrome Terminal illness Mortal wound Lists Causes of death by rate Expressions related to death Natural disasters People by cause of death Premature obituaries Preventable causes of death Notable deaths in 2008 Notable deaths in 2009 Notable deaths in 2010 Notable deaths in 2011 Notable deaths in 2012 Unusual deaths Mortality Child mortality Immortality Infant mortality Legal death Maternal death Mortality displacement Mortality rate Perinatal mortality After death Body Burial Coffin birth Cremation Cryonics Decomposition Disposal Mummification Promession Putrefaction Resomation Other Afterlife Cemetery Customs Death certificate Funeral Grief Intermediate state Mourning Vigil Paranormal Near-death experience Near-death studies Out-of-body experience Reincarnation research Séance Legal Abortion law Administration of an estate on death Capital punishment Death in absentia Death row Murder Right to die Trust law Will Other Death and culture Death (personification) Fascination with death Genocide Last Rites Martyr Necrophilia Sacrifice Human Animal Suicide Assisted suicide Thanatology War Death Portal

v d e Types of crime Note: Crimes vary by jurisdiction. Not all types are listed here. Classes Infraction · Misdemeanor · Felony · Summary · Indictable · Hybrid Against the person Assault · Battery · Extortion · Harassment · Kidnapping · Identity theft · Manslaughter (corporate) · Murder · Rape · Robbery · Sexual assault Against property Arson · Blackmail · Burglary · Deception · Embezzlement · False pretenses · Fraud · Handling · Larceny · Theft · Vandalism Against public order Drug possession Against the state Tax evasion · Espionage · Treason Against justice Bribery · Misprision of felony · Obstruction · Perjury · Malfeasance in office Inchoate offenses Accessory · Attempt · Conspiracy · Incitement · Solicitation · Common purpose WikiSource · Wikimedia Commons · Wikiquote · Wikinews

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Common misspelling(s) of murder

• muder

Dansk (Danish)
n. - mord, manddrab
v. tr. - myrde, begå mord
v. intr. - begå mord

idioms:

• get away with murder    tillade sig hvad som helst og slippe af sted med det
• murder squad    mordpatrulje
• scream bloody murder    opponere mod
• scream blue murder    råbe gevalt

Nederlands (Dutch)
moord, moordzaak, hels karwei, beroerde situatie, vermoorden, volledig verslaan, zeer slecht opvoeren (toneel)

Français (French)
n. - (Jur) meurtre, assassinat, enfer, cauchemar
v. tr. - assassiner, (fig) tuer, massacrer (une langue, un morceau de musique), écraser, battre (qn) à plates coutures, (GB) dévorer/se taper (un sandwich)
v. intr. - commettre un meurtre

idioms:

• get away with murder    s'en tirer impunément
• murder squad    brigade des homicides
• scream bloody murder    s'indigner, (US) crier comme un putois
• scream blue murder    (GB) crier comme un putois, s'indigner

Deutsch (German)
n. - Mord
v. - ermorden, umbringen

idioms:

• get away with murder    sich alles erlauben
• murder squad    Mordkommission
• scream bloody murder    Zeter und Mordio schreien
• scream blue murder    Zeter und Mordio schreien

Ελληνική (Greek)
n. - δολοφονία, φόνος
v. - δολοφονώ, φονεύω, σκοτώνω

idioms:

• get away with murder    κάνω του κεφαλιού μου ατιμωρητί
• murder squad    υπηρεσία (δίωξης) εγκλήματος
• scream bloody murder    φωνάζω σαν να με σκοτώνουν, μπήγω τις φωνές
• scream blue murder    φωνάζω σαν να με σκοτώνουν, μπήγω τις φωνές

Italiano (Italian)
assassinare, assassinio, processo per omicidio

idioms:

• get away with murder    cavarsela sempre
• murder squad    sezione omicidi
• scream bloody murder    fare una cagnara
• scream blue murder    fare una cagnara

Português (Portuguese)
n. - homicídio (m)
v. - assassinar

idioms:

• get away with murder    fazer o que se quer e escapar impune (coloq.)
• murder squad    esquadrão da morte
• scream bloody murder    fazer gritaria
• scream blue murder    gritar como se o estivessem matando

Русский (Russian)
преднамеренное убийство, совершать преднамеренное убийство, коверкать, убивать (время)

idioms:

• get away with murder    выйти сухим из воды
• murder squad    батальон смерти
• scream bloody murder    кричать караул, кричать от боли или страха
• scream blue murder    кричать караул, кричать от боли или страха

Español (Spanish)
n. - asesinato, muerte, caso de homicidio
v. tr. - asesinar, matar, dar muerte a, desfigurar, degollar
v. intr. - matar

idioms:

• get away with murder    salirse con la suya
• murder squad    brigada de homicidios
• scream bloody murder    protestar enérgicamente, poner el grito en el cielo
• scream blue murder    protestar enérgicamente, poner el grito en el cielo

Svenska (Swedish)
n. - mord
v. - mörda, fördärva

中文（简体）(Chinese (Simplified))
谋杀, 凶杀, 杀人, 犯杀人罪

idioms:

• get away with murder    逍遥法外
• murder squad    杀人集团
• scream bloody murder    大声惊叫
• scream blue murder    大声惊叫, 大惊小怪地叫喊

中文（繁體）(Chinese (Traditional))
n. - 謀殺
v. tr. - 謀殺, 兇殺
v. intr. - 殺人, 犯殺人罪

idioms:

• get away with murder    逍遙法外
• murder squad    殺人集團
• scream bloody murder    大聲驚叫
• scream blue murder    大聲驚叫, 大驚小怪地叫喊

한국어 (Korean)
n. - 사람을 죽이는 것, 매우 위험한 일
v. tr. - 살해하다, 망치다
v. intr. - 살인하다

idioms:

• get away with murder    자기 좋을 대로만 하다

日本語 (Japanese)
n. - 殺人, 殺人事件, 非常に困難なこと
v. - 殺す, だめにする, 破壊する

idioms:

• get away with murder    好き勝手にする
• murder squad    殺人事件捜査班

العربيه (Arabic)
‏(الاسم) إجرام, جريمه (فعل) يرتكب جريمه‏

עברית (Hebrew)
n. - ‮רצח, מצב מסוכן או פרוע‬
v. tr. - ‮רצח, הביס, קלקל ע"י ביצוע גרוע‬
v. intr. - ‮ביצע רצח‬

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