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Two Legal Reforms That Should Be On The Table
Read more about: Law
This post is perhaps best seen as a product of the frustration of reading through news accounts of another weekend of mayhem on the roads and footpaths, with a bit of legal ignorance thrown in, but it would be good if the election saw some party step forward with a commitment to legislate to make the following prosecutions possible:
First, that a kick to the head warrants a charge of attempted murder. There’s no excuse for not knowing that any blow to the head is potentially fatal, or at least risks serious brain damage. There have been enough tragic cases highlighting the problem. Something is needed to change the perception of what’s acceptable in a fight outside a pub.
Second, that drunken driving causing death should in practice, as opposed to theory, warrant some kind of murder charge. Maybe the US approach of second degree murder is needed. But there is case after case where what looks like depraved indifference to life gets booked down to dangerous driving and little or no jail time. So maybe it’s sentencing reform rather than a new offence that is needed. I don’t know.
If our Minister for Justice would calm down for a few days, maybe he could put his mind to these issues.
Actually, the degrees of murder thing is worthy of looking at in a more general sense. The UK is planning to do so as far as I know.
In my own legal ignorance, dan/p does that mean we dont operate the degrees of murder idea? Is it simply murder/manslaughter?
Interesting points P but these legisltive reforms are useless if the garda numbers remain in the realm where they are regularly late for call outs due to the volume of work expected of them.
Yep, we’re murder/manslaughter folks. The Murder 1/2 approach is American I not sure if they do manslaughter. Part of the reason for looking at introducing it in the UK are cases where a murder took place but the jury won’t convict for reason such as abuse of the perpetrator because of the sentence that murder carries. They can’t be charged with manslaughter as there was clearly intent to kill.
We only have murder (which requires premeditation and intent) and manslaughter (which requires wilful negligence or dereliction of duty, or unpremeditated but deliberate actions that lead to death). A kick to the head would be manslaughter if it killed someone - presuming that the kick was executed deliberately and not accidentally, or if accidentally that it was considered the kicker was being negligent in swinging his foot in such a manner as would be considered likely to hit someone in the head. So would drunk driving causing death (which could also be charged under the lesser crime of dangerous driving causing death).
The problem here is more executive (in the decision to charge with a particular offence) and judicial than legislative, I think.