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Term | Definition |
---|---|
Born-Alive Rule | the rule that to be a person, and therefore a homicide victim, a baby had to be "born alive" and capable of breathing and maintaining a heartbeat on its own. |
feticide | the crime of killing a fetus |
brain death | an individual who has suffered irreversible cessation of all brain functions including those of the brain stem, is dead |
justifiable homicide | killing in self defense |
excusable homicide | killings done by someone not of sound memory and decretion |
criminal homicide | all homicides that are neither justified or excused |
malice aforethought | originally the mental state of intentional killing with some amount of spite, hate, or bad will/ planned in advanced of the killing |
depraved heart murder | extremely reckless killings |
murder actus reus | the act of killing by poisoning, striking, starving, drowning, and other forms by which human nature can be overcome |
murder mens rea | can include purposeful, knowing, or reckless as the mental element in killing |