Unit 18 Crimes Against the Person

Crimes against the person include homicide, assault, battery, and rape. All of those crimes are serious offenses. A defendant found guilty of one of them may receive a harsh sentence. However, the law also protects the defendant by defining the various levels of these crimes and by considering the circumstances of each offense. Homicide - the killing of one human being by another - is the most serious of all acts. Homicides may be either noncriminal or criminal. Noncriminal homicide is a killing that is justifiable or excusable and for which killer is deemed faultless. Examples of noncriminal homicide include killing an enemy soldier in wartime, the killing of a condemned criminal by a police officer, or the killing of a person who is committing a serious crime and who poses a threat of death or serious harm, and killing in self-defense.

Murder, the most serious form of criminal homicide, is a killing that is done with malice. Malice means having the intent to kill or seriously harm.

First-degree murder is a killing that is premeditated (thought about beforehand), deliberate, and done with malice (i.e. with intent to kill).

Second-degree murder is a killing that is done with malice but without premeditation (i.e. the intent to kill did not exist until just before the murder itself).

Felony murder is a killing that takes place during the commission of certain felonies, such as arson, rape, robbery, or burglary.

Voluntary manslaughter is an intentional killing committed under circumstances that mitigate (lessen), but do not justify or excuse, the killing.

Involuntary manslaughter is an unintentional killing resulting from conduct so reckless that it causes extreme danger of death or bodily injury. An example would be a killing that results from playing with a gun known to be loaded.

Negligent homicide is the causing of death through criminal negligence. Negligence is the failure to exercise a reasonable or ordinary amount of care in a situation that causes harm to someone. The most common form of negligent homicide is automobile homicide. This is killing that results from operating a motor vehicle in a reckless and grossly negligent manner.

Assault is any attempt or threat to carry out a physical attack upon another person. An assault occurs when the threatened person reasonably believes that he or she is in real danger. Battery is any unlawful physical contact inflicted by one person upon another without consent. Actual injury is not necessary. The only requirement is that the person intended to do bodily harm. Today, there is often not much difference in law or practice between the use of the words assault and battery.

Recognition Vocabulary

nouns	verbs	adjectives
homicide - убийство assault - нападение, угроза физическим насилием battery - избиение rape - изнасилование sentence - приговор circumstance - обстоятельство enemy - враг executioner - палач self-defense - самооборона malice - злоба, злой умысел negligence - небрежность, халатность manslaughter - непреднамеренное убийство	receive - получать include - включать pose - представлять (угрозу) mitigate - смягчать lessen - уменьшать justify - оправдывать excuse - извинять cause - служить причиной, вызывать exercise - осуществлять intend - намереваться	harsh - суровый faultless - невиновный premeditated - предумышленный deliberate - намеренный reckless - рискованный, небрежный various - различный
word-combinations to receive a harch sentence - получить суровое наказание with malice - злонамеренно, со злым умыслом to pose a threat of death - представлять смертельную угрозу first (second)-degree murder - убийство первой (второй) степени to carry out a physical attack - осуществлять физическое нападение to do bodily harm - причинить телесный вред