What is the Difference Between Homicide and Murder
In everyday conversation, media headlines, and even TV shows, the terms "homicide" and "murder" are often used interchangeably. However, in the legal world, they have distinct meanings that can dramatically impact charges, trials, and outcomes. This distinction is crucial because it revolves around intent, legality, and circumstances. First let's define "Homicide".
What Is Homicide?
Homicide is the broadest term—it's simply the act of one human being causing the death of another. It doesn't imply wrongdoing or criminality on its own.
Homicides can be:
- Justifiable: Legally permitted killings, such as a police officer using lethal force in the line of duty or a person acting in clear self-defense.
- Excusable: Accidental deaths without negligence, like a truly unforeseeable car accident with no fault.
- Criminal: Unlawful killings, which fall into categories like murder or manslaughter.
Not all homicides result in criminal charges. For example, soldiers killing in war (under rules of engagement) or executions under capital punishment are homicides but not crimes.
What Is Murder?
Murder is a specific type of criminal homicide. It's the unlawful killing of another person with "malice aforethought." Malice aforethought doesn't require hatred—it means the killer acted with intent to kill, intent to cause serious harm, extreme recklessness (depraved heart), or during certain felonies (felony murder rule). Murder is illegal under common law and in statutory law states such as California it is illegal because a specific statute both defines murder and makes it illegal.
Murder is often divided into degrees:
- First-degree murder: Premeditated and deliberate (planned in advance).
- Second-degree murder: Intentional but without premeditation, or showing extreme indifference to human life.
Penalties for murder are severe—often life imprisonment or even the death penalty in some jurisdictions.
Key Differences
| Aspect | Homicide | Murder |
|---|
| Definition | Any killing of a human by another | Unlawful killing with malice aforethought |
| Legality | Can be lawful or unlawful | Always unlawful |
| Intent Required | None necessarily | Yes (malice aforethought) |
| Examples | Self-defense killing, accidental death, police shooting | Premeditated poisoning, drive-by shooting |
| Criminal Charge | Not always | Yes, the most serious homicide charge |
All murders are homicides, but not all homicides are murders.
Related Concept: Manslaughter
To complete the picture, manslaughter is another form of criminal homicide, but less culpable than murder because it lacks full malice.
- Voluntary manslaughter: Killing in the "heat of passion" due to adequate provocation (e.g., catching a spouse in infidelity and reacting immediately).
- Involuntary manslaughter: Unintentional killing due to recklessness or negligence (e.g., DUI causing a fatal crash).
Manslaughter carries lighter penalties than murder.
Remember too that a self defense killing may be charged as murder but the argument is that it is a justifiable homicide. In other words it is a legal killing, a legal homicide. Ultimately the degrees of murder and the defenses are not self evident in every case.
The line between these terms often determines freedom or decades in prison. Prosecutors must prove intent for murder; defenses might argue lack of malice to reduce charges to manslaughter or justifiable homicide.
If you have acted in self defense or the "heat of passion", call a criminal defense attorney at your earliest opportunity. A top lawyer is expensive but your freedom is on the line.
Daniel Horowitz is a defense attorney who can be reached at (925) 283-1863.
