Murder: Subjective or assumed? Thesis To convict one of murder, there must be subjective intent for the accused to be considered guilty. Due to the fact that murder is the most hateful crime of the law, all defendants should have the right to be innocent until proven guilty. There must be verifiable evidence to prove the mens rea. Profile of the Law Criminal Code s.230(a) “one who intends on causing bodily harm for the purpose of (i) actually committing the offence, or (ii) planning his escape after committing or attempting to commit the offence, and the death derives from the bodily harm;” (Criminal Code of Canada) Charter of Rights and Freedoms s. 7 “Everyone has the right to life, liberty and security of the person and should not be discriminated or segregated from the fundamental freedom principles.” (All About Law). Charter of Rights and Freedoms s.11 (d) Any citizen who is charged with a guilty crime, has the right to be innocent until proven guilty.” (Canadian Charter of Rights and Freedoms) Parente 2 General Summary On an evening in February 1985, 15 year old Roderick Martineau and his friend Patrick Tremblay planned out to break and enter into another citizen’s home and rob them. For safety, the boys armed themselves with weapons, however they never planned on actually using them. Martineau carried a pellet gun and Tremblay carried a riffle. During the break in, Tremblay murdered both residents of the house (Mr. and Mrs. McLean). When Martineau asked why he did that Tremblay replied “I did not have my mask on and they saw my face”. Martineau was charged with second degree murder under section 213 of the code; however the question is whether or not he was arrested with the correct charge. Jud... ... middle of paper ... ...vidence of showing mens rea. The terms mens rea means guilty act, and if there is no proof to show that mens rea is displayed in this case, then the arrest should not continue. Neither of the men committed a guilty act of murder. Vaillancourt was not found guilty and the court decided that the accused was not liable for the death of the victim. Only conviction that should have been made was break and enter for both men. No murder was intended. Work Cited Canadian Charter of Rights and Freedoms (1985). In Justice Law Website. Retrieved May 12, 2014 Criminal Code of Canada (1985). In Justice Law Website. Retrieved May 12, 2014 R. v. Martineau, 1990 CanLII 80 (SCC), [1990] 2 SCR 633, retrieved on 2014-05-04 R. v. Martineau, [1990] 2 SCR 633 (n.d.). In Judgements of the Supreme Court of Canada. Retrieved May 12, 2014
In June 2014, Justin Bourque was charged with three counts of first-degree murder and two counts of attempted murder after shooting three RCMP officers and wounding two others in Moncton, New Brunswick (Chronicle Herald 2014). He was subsequently convicted and sentenced to life in prison with no chance of parole for seventy-five years (Chronicle Herald 2014). Bourque’s sentence is unprecedented and is the longest sentence in Canadian history (Chronicle Herald 2014). A Canadian judge has not given a harsh a punishment since the final executions in 1962 (Chronicle Herald 2014).
Blair, Annice. Law in Action: Understanding Canadian Law. Toronto, Ontario: Pearson Education Canada, 2003. Print.
Murder at the Margin is a murder mystery involving various economic concepts. The story takes place in Cinnamon Bay Plantation on the Virgin Island of St. John. It is about Professor Henry Spearman, an economist from Harvard. Spearman organizes an investigation of his own using economic laws to solve the case.
On February 21 and 22 of this year, the Supreme Court of Canada was asked to rule whether th...
The first inception of individual rights began with the founding fathers of the United States, who had a vision in which all citizens would have the right to live in this country without being discriminated based on race, gender, religion, or sexual preference (US Constitution, 2010). These are basic human rights for which many people lost their lives to protect as this country was formed. Nonetheless, today one lives in a society in which one must fight to continue to posses those rights once again. Similar to the rest of history, when there have many examples of individual rights were not protected.
Welsh, B., & Irving, M. (2005). Crime and punishment in Canada, 1981-1999. Crime and Justice, 33, 247-294. Retrieved from http://library.mtroyal.ca:2063/stable/3488337?&Search=yes&searchText=canada&searchText=crime&list=hide&searchUri=%2Faction%2FdoBasicSearch%3FQuery%3Dcrime%2Bin%2Bcanada%26acc%3Don%26wc%3Don&prevSearch=&item=18&ttl=33894&returnArticleService=showFullText
“Whether a killer acted with the deliberation and premeditation required for first degree murder can only be determined on a case by case basis. The need for deliberation and premeditation does not mean that the perpetrator must contemplate at length or plan far ahead of the murder.”
Wrongful convictions in Canada is a very sensitive and disturbing topic that has created concerns as to why individuals are being wrongfully convicted. As people in Canada read about cases involving wrongful conviction, such as Guy Paul Morin, Rubin Carter and David Millguard, it often undermines their faith in the criminal justice system. Tunnel vision, the use of questionable DNA evidence, and eyewitness misidentification are the three main causes of wrongful convictions in Canada. Recognizing and addressing these concerns has led to a reduction in cases of wrongful convictions in Canada.
After a person suspected of murder has been the trial process begin. During this stage the police will give the evidence they have complied to the prosecution. The prosecution will make a determi...
Charter. No one, including the government, has the right to deprive any person of these rights which are given...
rights, that among these are life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness. This declaration is the
Criminal law is based on the principle of actus non facit reum nisi mens sit rea. The principle is to the extent that a man is not guilty of his acts, actus in the absence of a guilty conscience, mens rea (Gardner, 2009). To this end, criminal law justice provides that the person alleging the commission of a crime must proof beyond reasonable doubt that the accused person(s) possessed mens rea, if the court is to hold a criminal liability against the accused. In the case of People of the State of California v. Orenthal James Simpson (1995) or what has come to be famously known as the O.J. Simpson Trial is a classical illustration of how highly the U.S. criminal justice regards the beyond reasonable doubt principle.
Michael Sanders, a Professor at Harvard University, gave a lecture titled “Justice: What’s The Right Thing To Do? The Moral Side of Murder” to nearly a thousand student’s in attendance. The lecture touched on two contrasting philosophies of morality. The first philosophy of morality discussed in the lecture is called Consequentialism. This is the view that "the consequences of one 's conduct are the ultimate basis for any judgment about the rightness or wrongness of that conduct.” (Consequentialism) This type of moral thinking became known as utilitarianism and was formulated by Jeremy Bentham who basically argues that the most moral thing to do is to bring the greatest amount of happiness to the greatest number of people possible.
Murder is considered a serious crime in our country. The loosely defined term of murder implies that a person who kills another human being with intent is known as being the worst kind of violent crime we see in our society. Any unlawful killing requires that a living person be killed and it does not mean that the guilty person feels any hatred or spite in order to plan and execute the act of murder. Moreover, the destructive acts that end peoples lives are classified as homicides which include manslaughter and first and second degree murder. More important, the justice system has put different labels on such crimes, but it also allows room for criminals to get away with murder.
The right to Life, Liberty, and Security, is one of the most important citizen rights that you can have. With the right to life, it means that any individual has the right to live, and shouldn’t be killed by anyone. With the right to Liberty, it means that we have the right to be free, and do almost anything we want. Lastly, the right to security means that you are guaranteed to be protected the best way possible, while you are in that country. Even though it is just one of many rights, they all fall under the right to freedom. Which everyone just wants the right to do what they want, and to stand up for what they believe in. Everyone should have the right to freedom, as well as the right to life, liberty, and security.We felt that this right was the most important because it summed up the rights that we need as citizens. Like the right to not be enslaved, can count as the right to Life and Liberty. So in our opinion, the right to Life, Liberty, and Security, is the one that should be one of the first applied rights to our lives. The next few paragraphs will describe how we feel on these particular rights, as well as examples of how these rights are being violated all over the world.