Murder Manslaughter And Infanticide

A Law Commission consultation paper 'A new homicide act for England and Wales?' was published as LCCP 177 (ISBN 0117302643) in April 2006.

This book contains commentary on three key sentencing statutes, and on sentencing law for nine offence categories.

From governments that enact population-limiting legislation or commit wholesale neonaticide, to families who purposely allow a weak, infirm, or unfavorably gendered infant to perish rather than expend limited resources, neonaticide, infanticide, and filicide, are practiced on every continent and by every level of cultural complexity. Taking

- The first book to examine medical expert evidence in infanticide cases focusing in particular on the shifting notion of ‘certainty’ in medical testimony. - Explores the changing relationship between medical experts and the courts. - Explores the changing perception of infanticidal women by the courts.

Following on from a report by the House of Lords Select Committee on the Constitution (HCP 173-I, session 2003-04; ISBN 0104005416), published in October 2004, and a Law Commission consultation paper (Consultation Paper no. 178; ISBN 0117302635), published in January 2006, this report examines the options for ensuring effective post-legislative scrutiny of legislation. This refers to mechanisms which seek to review the effects of laws in operation in order to analyse how effectively the intended policy objectives have been met, to ensure better regulation and to identify good practice. The report notes that there is overwhelming support for the principle that there should be a more systematic approach to post-legislative scrutiny and that such scrutiny should be controlled by Parliament. It recommends the setting up of a new Parliamentary joint committee on post-legislative scrutiny, supported by the Scrutiny Unit, which could be involved in the pre-legislative as well as post-legislative stage; and the need for enhanced regulatory impact assessments (RIAs) to ensure the policy objectives of legislation are clearly stated. The report includes case studies of past legislation which have been included as potential candidates for post-legislative scrutiny to illustrate problems encountered, as well as examples of post-legislative scrutiny in Scotland, Switzerland and Canada.

This consultation paper reviews the law relating to homicide in England and Wales, and sets out a number of provisional proposals in order to establish a more rational and coherent framework of legislation. Issues discussed include: the existing law and problems with it; the definition of murder and manslaughter; partial defences including provocation, diminished responsibility and duress; the fault element in murder and the concept of intention; and the doctrine of double-effect. The paper proposes the creation of a new Homicide Act (to replace the Homicide Act 1957) to establish clear definitions of murder and the partial defences to it, as well as defining manslaughter, within a graduated system of offences (the ladder principle) to reflect seriousness of offence and degrees of mitigation. For example, the offence of murder should be divided into two categories, of 'first degree murder' (with a mandatory life sentence) and 'second degree' (with a discretionary life sentence maximum). Responses to the consultation paper proposals should be received by 13.04.2006.

Infanticide examines medical expert evidence in infanticide cases, focusing specifically on the shifting notion of "certainty" in medical testimony. Beginning in the Early Modern period and concluding in the mid-twentieth century, it considers how courts determined whether an infant died from natural causes or other reasons, including violence. The book explores expert evidence in cases of infanticide and examines the extent of certainty created by medical specialists who founded their testimony on anatomical exploration and science. As the book progresses, it becomes clear that medical specialists were unable to scientifically establish cause of death and in doing so conveyed uncertainty in court proceedings. Rather than being regarded as a professional failing, Dixon argues that the uncertainty created by medical specialists redirected the outcomes of infanticide cases. The combination of uncertainty and the changing perceptions of infanticidal women by the court lead juries to find infanticidal women not guilty of a capital offence in many cases. This book will be of great interest to students and scholars of Criminology, Law and History.