Explain how degrees of murder developed through history

Question

What will be an ideal response?

Answer 1

Our modern law of criminal homicide took centuries to develop. Over several centuries, the English common law judges had developed two broad kinds of homicide, criminal and noncriminal. By the 1550s, the common law judges, and a growing number of statutes, had further divided criminal homicide into murder and manslaughter and noncriminal homicide into justifiable and excusable homicide. By 1700, the English common and statute laws of homicide and the American colonies' law recognized three kinds of homicide: justifiable homicide, excusable homicide, and criminal homicide. Eventually, these laws further divided criminal homicide into murder and manslaughter. The English homicide statutes in the 1550s defined "murder" as killing someone intentionally by "poison" or "lying in wait," classic examples of acts planned in advance. So the only kind of murder was intentional, premeditated killing— in other words, killing with malice aforethought. After that, the judges invented new kinds of murder. First, they added intentional (malicious) killings that weren't premeditated. Next, the judges added unintended killings if they occurred during the commission of felonies. Then came depraved heart murder, defined as extremely reckless killings. The judges took one last step away from the premeditated, intentional killing requirement. They created intent to cause serious bodily injury murder.