Voluntary Manslaughter

• What is Voluntary Manslaughter?

  Loss of Control and diminished responsibility are special defences. The defences merely reduces liability.

  Where D kills V with malice aforethought, but the killing occurs due to:

  • loss of control; or
  • diminished responsibility
• Loss of control set out in s.54 of the CORONERS AND JUSTICE ACT 2009:

  1. D must have lost self-control and this caused the killing. There must be a loss of self-control, not just self-restraint: COCKER. The killing must have arisen from a loss of self-control and not from a ‘considered desire for revenge’: s.54
• Loss of control set out in s.54 of the CORONERS AND JUSTICE ACT 2009:

  2. D’s loss of self-control must have had a qualifying trigger

  D’s fear of serious violence from V against D or another identified person: s.55

  things done and/or said which were extremely grave and caused D to have a justifiable sense of being seriously wronged: s.55
• Loss of control set out in s.54 of the CORONERS AND JUSTICE ACT 2009:

  3. It must be that a person of D’s sex and age, with a normal degree of tolerance and self-restraint and in the circumstances of D, might have reacted in the same or similar way to D. So, things that made D lose control more easily, such as being drunk suffering from depression, or being aggressive by nature, are ignored.
• Diminished responsibility set out in s.2 of the HOMICIDE ACT 1957 as amended by the CORONERS AND JUSTICE ACT 2009:

  1. D must have suffered from an abnormality of mental functioning: BYRNE
• Diminished responsibility set out in s.2 of the HOMICIDE ACT 1957 as amended by the CORONERS AND JUSTICE ACT 2009:

  2. D’s abnormality of mental functioning must be caused by a recognised medical condition.

  This covers:

  • severe depression
  • paranoia
• Diminished responsibility set out in s.2 of the HOMICIDE ACT 1957 as amended by the CORONERS AND JUSTICE ACT 2009:

  3. D’s abnormality of mental functioning must have substantially impaired D’s ability to:

  • Understand the nature of his conduct; or
  • Form a rational judgement; or
  • Exercise self-control.
  • The impairment needs to be significant: GOLDS
• Diminished responsibility set out in s.2 of the HOMICIDE ACT 1957 as amended by the CORONERS AND JUSTICE ACT 2009:

  4. Finally, D must prove that his abnormality of mental functioning provides an explanation for his conduct in doing or being a party to the killing.