In Australia, murder, like most criminal law, is defined by legislation.
South Australia
In South Australia, the ''Criminal Law Consolidation Act 1935'',
[.] states:
No further definition for murder can be found within the Act. 'Life' is also poorly defined, with section 5 of the Act stating:
Instead, particulars of 'murder' and 'life' are defined by the common law. However, because this provision of law uses mandatory language ('shall be imprisoned for life'), it clearly indicates that life imprisonment is thus the mandatory punishment for murder in South Australia.
New South Wales
In the NSW ''
Crimes Act 1900'' murder is defined as follows:
[ Murder and manslaughter defined.][.]
Under NSW law, the maximum penalty for
murder
Murder is the unlawful killing of another human without justification or valid excuse, especially the unlawful killing of another human with malice aforethought. ("The killing of another person without justification or excuse, especially the ...
is life imprisonment, with a standard non-parole period of 20 years,
[''Crimes (Sentencing Procedure) Act'' 1999 (NSW]
Table Standard non-parole periods
or 25 years for the murder of a child under the age of 18.
In order to be found guilty of murder under the New South Wales ''Crimes Act 1900'', intent to cause grievous bodily harm or reckless indifference to human life is sufficient to secure a conviction for murder.
Reckless indifference to human life is characterised by the awareness of the probability (as opposed to possibility),
[.][.] of the accused's act resulting in a person's death (as opposed to merely resulting in grievous bodily harm).
[.][.]
''Felony murder'' (called constructive murder in Australian jurisdictions)
[.][''R v Munro'' (1981) 4 A Crim R 67, Court of Criminal Appeal (NSW)]
LawCite records
[.] and murder by omission are also recognised crimes in this jurisdiction.
[''R v Taktak'' (1988) 14 NSWLR 226, Court of Criminal Appeal (NSW)]
LawCite records
[''Stone and Dobinson'' ]977
Year 977 ( CMLXXVII) was a common year starting on Monday (link will display the full calendar) of the Julian calendar.
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[.][.][.]
Section 23 of the ''Crimes Act 1900'' provides for the partial defence of provocation, and can refer to actions taken by the deceased both immediately before, and prior to, the murder.
[ Trial for murder--partial defence of extreme provocation.][''Davis v R'' (1998) 100 A Crim R 573, Court of Criminal Appeal (NSW).][''Edwards v R 973 AC 648, ]Privy Council
A privy council is a body that advises the head of state of a state, typically, but not always, in the context of a monarchic government. The word "privy" means "private" or "secret"; thus, a privy council was originally a committee of the mo ...
(on appeal from Hong Kong). If proven by the defence where there is a charge of murder, the jury will be directed to reduce the offence to manslaughter.
[.][.][.][.] If prior to or at the time of the committal proceedings an offender enters a plea of guilty to the lesser offence of manslaughter on the grounds of provocation, and it is accepted by the Crown, they are entitled to a discount on their corresponding sentence.
[.][.][.]
However, this is not the case in Victoria, Tasmania or Western Australia - the
''Crimes Act'' 1958 (Vic), in Section 3B, states:
In assessing guilt for murder, the intention in the precise method in which death occurred is irrelevant as long as the requisite
mens rea
In criminal law, (; Law Latin for "guilty mind") is the mental element of a person's intention to commit a crime; or knowledge that one's action (or lack of action) would cause a crime to be committed. It is considered a necessary element ...
and
actus reus
(), sometimes called the external element or the objective element of a crime, is the Law Latin term for the "guilty act" which, when proved beyond a reasonable doubt in combination with the ("guilty mind"), produces criminal liability in t ...
is satisfied.
The relevant actus reus for murder is where an act (or omission) has caused death.
The mens rea for murder is:
# an intent to kill;
[South Australia and Victoria do not have statutory definitions of ‘murder’ but in these jurisdictions the common law applies.]
# an intent to inflict grievous bodily harm;
or
# reckless indifference to human life, where the defendant foresaw the probability, as opposed to possibility, of his or her actions resulting in death.
[.]
In NSW, a person can also be found guilty of murder if they kill a person during or immediately after the commission of a crime that is punishable by imprisonment of 25 years or more.
[ at 18 23 28 32 35per Mason CJ, Toohey, Gaudron, and McHugh JJ).][{{cite AustLII, NSWCCA, 57, 2013, litigants=Hudd v R , parallelcite= , courtname= Court of Criminal Appeal (NSW) , date=15 March 2013.]
See also
*
List of murder laws by country
References
Australia
Australia, officially the Commonwealth of Australia, is a sovereign country comprising the mainland of the Australian continent, the island of Tasmania, and numerous smaller islands. With an area of , Australia is the largest country by ...
Murder in Australia
Australian criminal law