Mccann et al. on Defences to Homicide

Thursday, September 6, 2018

 

This Options Paper is the second stage of the Victorian Law Reform Commission’s work on defences to homicide. The Paper is intended to stimulate discussion about possible changes to the current law and provide the basis for the Commission’s consultations on whether and how the law should be changed. The Options Paper argues that reform of this area of law should take account of the social context in which homicides typically occur. Chapter 2 describes the contexts in which people kill and provides information about the defences raised by those who are charged with homicide offences. The Paper goes on to describe the main defences and partial excuses to homicide, including self-defence, provocation, infanticide and mental impairment. The Paper explains how these defences operate in practice, puts forward options for reforming specific defences and also raises the possibility of introducing a new defence of diminished responsibility. It also considers whether there should be more fundamental changes to defences and partial excuses, based on a new conceptual approach to this area of law.

http://lawprofessors.typepad.com/crimprof_blog/2018/09/mccann-et-al-on-defences-to-homicide.html

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Mccann et al. on Defences to Homicide curated from CrimProf Blog