By Mashum Mollah
Every newspaper has broadcast at least three to four murders daily. Among these, some are homicide, and fewer are addressing as murder. But from a general reader’s perspective, most regular newspaper readers do not have any clue on murder vs. homicide.
The judicial system of crime has categorized murder and homicide. But roughly, in a simple world, every murder is a homicide, but every homicide is not a murder. Only culpable homicide is a punishable offense. On the other hand, every murder is an unlawful killing. And these unlawful killing offense is significance when the murder is considering a culpable homicide.
So for better understanding, we start with the homicide definition.
What Does Homicide Mean?
When you want to know the details of the murder vs. homicide, you have to start with the simple definition of homicide. Homicide these words’ first parts are coming from their Latin origin.
Homo means man, and Cida is denoting killing in the Latin phrase. Homicide means when a man is killing another man. Not only a man but even women and children can also be the killer. When one person intentionally and unintentionally kills another person. This crime is addressed as a homicide.
Two types of homicides are present in the judicial system.
- Culpable homicide with the intention of harm or murder
- Culpable Homicide without intentions of harm or killing
Among these two types of homicide, 1st-degree homicide is strictly punishable by law. Because this type of homicide is a clear sign of a criminal mind.
You are planning and plotting against the victim. And at last, you materialize your killing plan. In the first degrees of homicide, the attackers have a clear intention to end the life of the victim.
Now take a look at the definition of murder and what are the degrees of murder.
What Is Murder?
The murder, this word is originated from the German word morth. The German meaning of the word is the secret murder of a person. When a person or a group of people are killing someone with a prior intention to ending his life.
Murderers always have some intentions to end the victim’s life. When you want to know the contrasting factors of murder vs. homicide. You first have to know every murder is a punishable offense and materialized by a criminal mindset. But only culpable homicide has evil intentions.
Let’s see what the degree of murders is.
Difference Between First-Degree Murders Second And Third Degree Murder Crime
The murder vs. homicide this answer will be clear to you when you will get the entire idea of different degrees of murder. Criminal law has divided murders into two categories.
Here are the names of these three categories.
1. First-Degree Murders
When an attacker is doing evil planning, and at last, they kill the victim. First-degree murder is associated with many planning and plotting. This is the reason the first-degree murders are most prominent to get the stricken punishment from the judicial system.
For example, if I am a killer. I want to kill someone. Then I do all the map work and planning. And I closely watched the victim’s movements and daily routines. Then after a certain period, I suddenly came out from a bush and killed the victim with my gun. The murder vs. homicide is here. The first degree of murder is culpable homicide.
2. Second-Degree Murder
The criminal court is addressing murder as the second degree of murder when an attacker has a clear intention to do harm. But there is no planning involved. The second degree of murder is almost like an unplanned way of killing.
For example, take me in the place of a killer. Suppose my neighbor is verbally abusing and cursing me. Every day I want to kill him. But one day, I pulled out my gun and pulled the trigger, shooting him in front of my garage. As I was not prepared to do the crime. I did not find any cause to justify my actions. And there is no place for hiding. The cop is going to get me within seconds.
3. Man Slaughter
Manslaughter this term is tricky. But in reality, when a person is killing someone for any minor course or mental disturbance. Most of the manslaughters are hot-headed. They are doing the crime on the basis of passion or madness. The fewer intentions are associated with manslaughter.
For example, Suppose I am a killer, and I am a calm and quiet person. But one day, I picked up my gun then shot my friends. There are no intentions, even motives that are not also associated with my actions. Fewer motives and unpredictable nature of the criminal is challenging to find the accused person. The crime of passion also belongs in this group.
What Are The Difference Between Murder And Homicide?
Murder vs. homicide is not a clear concept from a regular person’s eyes. But according to criminal law, the punishments are different on the basis of the murder types and degrees.
The first degrees of murder charges are causing a severe penalty from the judicial system. But if one person is killing the victim to protect himself. The charges are not very serious. Murder is serious crime murder charges by degree are different, but in respect to other variants, all types of killing where someone is losing his life is counting as a serious crime.
Wrapping It Up
Murder vs. homicide two sides of a single coin. Any unlawful acts and killings are causing a penalty in the eyes of the criminal court. The unlawful acts with the evil intention of planning and plotting can be causing very tough punishments. Even in many countries still, the death penalty and lifelong imprisonment are still in the law.
The ultimate punishment is also possible as the outcome of the evil actions. So what is your opinion regarding this matter? Do not forget to share your valuable opinion with us.
