Negligent homicide is a criminal charge brought against a person who, through

criminal negligence In criminal law, criminal negligence is an offence that involves a breach of an objective standard of behaviour expected of a defendant. It may be contrasted with strictly liable offences, which do not consider states of mind in determining c ...

, allows another person to die. Other times, an intentional killing may be negotiated down to this lesser charge as a compromised resolution of a murder case, as might occur in the context of the intentional shooting of an unarmed man after a traffic altercation. Negligent homicide can be distinguished from

involuntary manslaughter Manslaughter is a common law legal term for homicide considered by law as less culpable than murder. The distinction between murder and manslaughter is sometimes said to have first been made by the ancient Athenian lawmaker Draco in the 7th ce ...

by its

mens rea In criminal law, (; Law Latin for "guilty mind") is the mental state of a defendant who is accused of committing a crime. In common law jurisdictions, most crimes require proof both of ''mens rea'' and '' actus reus'' ("guilty act") before th ...

requirement: negligent homicide requires criminal negligence, while manslaughter requires recklessness. In the United Kingdom, common law gross negligent manslaughter covers the same conduct as negligent homicide.

United States

In the United States, all

states State most commonly refers to: * State (polity), a centralized political organization that regulates law and society within a territory **Sovereign state, a sovereign polity in international law, commonly referred to as a country **Nation state, a ...

define negligent homicide by

statute A statute is a law or formal written enactment of a legislature. Statutes typically declare, command or prohibit something. Statutes are distinguished from court law and unwritten law (also known as common law) in that they are the expressed wil ...

, often defining the offense as involuntary manslaughter. Negligent homicide may be a

lesser included offense In criminal law, a lesser included offense is a crime for which all of the elements necessary to impose liability are also elements found in a more serious crime. It is also used in non-criminal violations of law, such as certain classes of tra ...

first First most commonly refers to: * First, the ordinal form of the number 1 First or 1st may also refer to: Acronyms * Faint Images of the Radio Sky at Twenty-Centimeters, an astronomical survey carried out by the Very Large Array * Far Infrared a ...

and second degree murder, as the elements of negligent homicide include elements of those more serious charges. In some states, negligent homicide charges are possible following the killing of a person while

driving under the influence Driving under the influence (DUI) is the crime of driving, operating, or being in control of a vehicle while one is impaired from doing so safely by the effect of either alcohol (drug), alcohol (see drunk driving) or some other drug, whether re ...

of drugs or alcohol.

Notable cases

The crash of Aeroperú Flight 603 near Lima, Peru resulted in a negligent homicide conviction. An employee had left a piece of duct tape over the static ports on the bottom side of the fuselage while cleaning, which caused the crash. He was charged with and convicted of negligent homicide. The death of

Anneliese Michel Anna Elisabeth "Anneliese" Michel (21 September 1952 – 1 July 1976) was a Germans, German woman who underwent 67 Exorcism in the Catholic Church, Catholic exorcism rites during the year before her death. She died of malnutrition, for which her ...

, a German woman with epileptic psychosis who died of malnutrition while undergoing an extensive series of

exorcism Exorcism () is the religious or spiritual practice of evicting demons, jinns, or other malevolent spiritual entities from a person, or an area, that is believed to be possessed. Depending on the spiritual beliefs of the exorcist, this may be do ...

rites, resulted in negligent homicide convictions against her parents and two priests. The train crash in Kamensk-Shakhtinsky rail disaster in the

USSR The Union of Soviet Socialist Republics. (USSR), commonly known as the Soviet Union, was a List of former transcontinental countries#Since 1700, transcontinental country that spanned much of Eurasia from 1922 until Dissolution of the Soviet ...

, killing 106 people, was caused by the criminal negligence of two railroad mechanics who failed to check the brakes of a freight train properly.

References

{{Reflist Homicide

United States

Notable cases

See also

References