OCR law - involuntary man slaughter

• what is involuntary manslaughter?

  unlawful killing where the d does not have intention, either oblique or direct, to kill or cause GBH
• What are the two types of involuntary manslaughter?

  unlawful act manslaughter

  gross negligence manslaughter
• what is unlawful act manslaughter?

  the d has done a dangerous unlawful act which caused death- still liable if d didn't know the death or injury would occur
• what are the elements of unlawful act manslaughter?

  1 the d must do an unlawful act

  2 the act must be dangerous on an objective test

  3 the act must cause death

  4 the d must have required the MR for the unlawful act
• "unlawful act"


  the death must be caused by an unlawful act which must be a criminal offence

  r v lamb

  must be an act not an omission

  r v lowe

  examples of unlawful act:

  arson- r v goodfellow

  criminal damage- DPP v Newbury and jones

  burglary- r v Watson
• "dangerous act"


  r v church- "such as all sober and reasonable people would inevitable recognise must subject the other person to, at least, the risk of some harm resulting therefrom, albeit not serious harm"

  
  

  it also doesn't matter that the d did not realise there was any risk of harm to another person

  r v Larkin
• "some harm"


  it is enough that the sober and reasonable person would force some harm, not the actual harm that was done

  r v JM and SM
• "an act of property"

  can be aimed at property

  r v good fellow
• "physical harm"


  the risk of harm refers to physical harm

  something which causes fear and apprehension is not sufficient

  unlawful act must cause the death

  if there is an intervening act which breaks the chain of causation- then the d cannot be liable for manslaughter
• death from unlawful supply of drugs


  if a supplier supplies drugs and the person voluntarily takes them its not manslaughter due to free will

  r v Kennedy
• MR of unlawful act manslaughter

  d must have the MR for the unlawful act committed

  not necessary for the d to realise that the act was unlawful and dangerous

  DPP v Newbury and jones
• what is gross negligence manslaughter?

  where the d owes a DOC but breaches that duty and causes death

  *can be an act or omission, neither of which has to be unlawful*

  this offence might be considered in many circumstances but typically medical treatment or death in the workplace

  r v adomako
• what are the elements of gross negligence manslaughter from adomako?

  existing DOC by the d towards the v

  breach of duty which causes death

  gross negligence which the jury considers to be so bad as to be criminal
• what is the new test from r v Broughton?

  1 the d owned an existing DOC to the victim

  2 the d negligently breached that duty

  3 at the time of the breach there was a serious and obvious risk of death

  4 it was reasonably foreseeable at the time of the breech of the duty and the breech gave rise to a serious and obvious risk

  5 breech was significant contribution ti the death

  6 in the view of the jury the circumstance of the breech were truly exceptionally bad and so reprehensible as to justify the conclusion that it amount to gross negligence
• the defendant has created a dangerous situation

  a doc exists where the d has created a state of affairs, which he or she knows or ought reasonably to know, has been life threatening

  r v evans
• gross negligence


  at the time of the breech, the jury must conclude that a reasonably prudent person would have foreseen a serious (r v rudling) and obvious (r v rose) risk of death, and not merely a risk of injury