Cailin Frusti

Substantive Criminal Law

08 October 2015
Types of Murder and the Death Penalty

Homicide can legally be defined as an act of killing a human being by another human.

There are many different categories of homicides, including, but not limited to, murder in the

first degree, murder in the second degree, and felony/open murder. Murder in the first degree is

defined as an unlawful killing that is both willful and premeditated, meaning that it was

committed after planning or lying in wait for the victim (criminal.findlaw.com). In the state of

Michigan, this act is punishable of being sentenced to life in jail without parole. Murder in the

second degree can be defined as a non-premeditated killing, resulting from an assault in which

death of the victim was a distinct possibility (dictionary.law.com). This differs from first degree

murder because unlike murder in the first degree, it is not premeditated. In the state of Michigan,

second degree murder is punishable of fifteen years to life in jail. Finally, felony murder, also

known as open murder, can be defined as when someone commits a certain kind of felony and

someone else dies in the course of it. It doesn't matter whether the death was intentional or

accidentalthe defendant is liable for it (criminaldefenselawyer.com). The Felony Murder Rule

was abolished in the State of Michigan in 1980 by the case People v. Aaron.

The Death Penalty is topic of much debate within our nation today. Some people argue

that it is constitutional, while others oppose this point of view. A total of thirty one states have

legalized the death penalty within their borders, while the other nineteen, as well as the District

of Columbia have made it illegal to sentence an individual to death for the crime they have

committed.
 Many people feel that the death penalty should be permanently demolished. One

argument is that it does nothing to teach the individual a lesson for their actions. If this individual

commits one crime and gets sentenced to death, they will not be sentenced to jail with their

freedoms deprived as punishment. Upon release, the hope is that they will have learned their

lesson and will not commit the same act again. However, by punishing this individual to death,

they will not have this opportunity. They also believe that the death penalty simply teaches

criminals that murdering is alright, because essentially, by punishing an individual to death, the

government is murdering as well. These individuals feel that the death penalty goes against our

Constitutions eight amendment, protecting against cruel and unusual punishments.

Other individuals believe that the death penalty should be recognized and accepted in all

states of our nation. One thing these individuals feel strongly about is that it provides closure for

the victim. For example, if a rapist is sentenced to death, the victim will know that the offender

will never hurt him/her or anyone else ever again. Another argument for the acceptance of the

death penalty is that it would ignite the fear of death in the criminals. If the possibility of death

was a punishment, the individual may be dissuaded from committing the act for the fear of the

punishment.