In the criminal justice system, murder is categorized into different degrees, these degrees determine the level of punishment that will be apportioned to the alleged murderer.
Murder is classified into premeditated/planned, unplanned but intentional, unplanned and unintended but acting criminally reckless and acting in the heat of the moment.
One thing that is established is that it is not murdered unless someone died as a result of the action of another, therefore it involves the death of another person and the act of killing another person is a crime that attracts the punishment of killing the killer in retaliation by the government which can either be by hanging, electrocution, or death by firing squad or if justice is tampered with mercy the murderer is sent to jail for life.
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Murder is recognized as a capital offense and it attracts capital punishment.
Murder therefore can be defined to be an act of unlawful killing of another human being without justification, with malice aforethought. It is the unjustified killing of one person by another and is usually distinguished from manslaughter by the presence of or element of malice aforethought or mensrea.
What distinguishes murder from manslaughter is the presence of the mensrea, the premeditated plan to kill, or the malice afterthought: The murderer already had it in mind to kill, thoroughly planned it until he executed it.
The categories of murder are:
First-degree murder; this means that the murderer, had it in mind to kill another fellow, thoroughly planned it, and executed it. First Degree murder is otherwise known as premeditated murder.
Second-degree murder occurs when the murderer never planned to kill the victim but he intentionally wants to inflict grievous bodily harm on the victim which then resulted in the death of the victim. Therefore, the murderer never intended or premeditated to kill, but the act was intentional. For instance, an abusive spouse who only had it in mind to beat up the partner with no intention of killing the spouse but the spouse died as a result of the beating and injury gotten from the beating.
Third-degree murder occurs when the murderer acted in the heat of the moment which results in the death of the victim. Killing the victim was never premeditated or planned by the murderer, the murderer has no prior afterthought of killing the victim but he acted at the heat of the moment maybe in retaliation against the attack of the victim or defense of his person or even as a reflex action but it results in the death of the victim.
Finally, Involuntary manslaughter is another degree of murder that occurs when the alleged murderer never intended to kill the victim or never had the afterthought of it but he acted criminally reckless that it can reasonably be presumed that those actions could lead to the death of another. For instance, an over-speeding drunk driver who ends up running over a passerby. The driver had no prior intention of running over the passersby to death but by the reason of the driver driving drunk and overspeeding, it could reasonably be presumed that it will cause the death of another. Or a police officer shooting live ammunition into the air and a bullet ends up hitting a person and killing that person. The police officer may claim that he had no prior intention of killing the victim but he acted criminally reckless that it can reasonably be presumed that his action may lead to the death of a person.
The legal punishment for these different categories of offenses is not the same and it varies.