Involuntary manslaughter
Unlawful Act
2014
For starters...
• Using the mini white
boards describe
what you believe the
term “involuntary”
means.
• Add this to
manslaughter…
• What is “involuntary
manslaughter”?
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Aims and Objectives
• To develop ............................. Of the offence of
involuntary manslaughter
• To understand the law relating to unlawful act
manslaughter
• To complete the handout to enable you to use
legal................................ to support your answers
• To .........................the law to .....................questions
• Outcome....All learners will write an essay on the
problem questions given to you by your tutor.
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What is involuntary manslaughter?
Involuntary manslaughter is usually where D kills
without the …………………………………………
Therefore the killing is usually an unexpected result of
D committing an unlawful and dangerous act and from
that a death has occurred
Or
D has been so grossly negligent that someone has died.
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Therefore there are 3 main ways of
committing Involuntary manslaughter…
1. Unlawful Act Manslaughter (Constructive
manslaughter)
2. Gross Negligence manslaughter
}
We
study
for
the
exam!
3. Reckless Manslaughter
Maximum sentence is life but the judge has discretion
to impose any sentence that is suitable
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Unlawful Act
Manslaughter
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Unlawful Act Manslaughter
• The current test is laid down
in R v Goodfellow which sets
out the 4 questions that have
to be answered positively if a
conviction is to be secured:
• 1. Did d commit an unlawful
act?
• 2. Was the act objectively
dangerous?
• 3. Did the act cause death?
• 4. Did d have the necessary
mens rea for the unlawful
act? i.e. was the act
intentional?
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Therefore….
• Unlawful Act + Danger + Death + MR of
the unlawful act = Unlawful Act
manslaughter.
• One crucial difference between the AR
of murder and unlawful Act
manslaughter is that given UAM
requires an unlawful and dangerous act
it follows that if d omits to Act he
cannot be guilty of this form of
manslaughter.
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1. Was the Act Unlawful?
• The death must be
caused by a criminal
offence, a tort is
not sufficient.
• Task:Research the
following cases and
be ready to discuss
them as a class – you
have 5 mins!
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• R v Franklin
Throwing a box into the sea was not sufficient
• R v Lamb
The v was not in fear therefore not assault
• R v Goodfellow
Arson is an unlawful act.
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Starter Activity...
• Complete the
unlawful act table
on page 6 of your
handout.
• Use what we
learned yesterday
and your St
Brendan’s
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2. Dangerous Act
• The Unlawful Act must
also be dangerous. This is
tested objectively as
stated in R v Church.
• In R v Church it was held
that:
1. It need not be the
accused who foresaw the
harm but any reasonable
and sober person.
2. The risk may only be
some harm, not
necessarily serious harm
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Task:
• Complete the cases of
• New bury & Jones
• Mitchell
• Dawson
• What do they tell us?
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• DPP v Newbury & Jones
Boys dropped slab on train killing guard. If sober and
reasonable man saw risk of injury it does not matter if D did
not
• R v Mitchell
The accused punched someone during an argument at a post office .
The man who was attacked fell back and injured a old lady who later
died from her injuries. It was enough that the initial act was objectively dangero
• R v Dawson
Armed robbery at petrol station, no physical attack but attendant had
heart disease and soon after died of a heart attack.
Not m/s as reasonable man would no have seen risk of injury
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• The dangerous act should
be intended to cause
physical harm, that can be
towards a person or
towards property.
• Can you think of case
where damage to property
was intended but the
dangerous act resulted in
injury to a person/people?
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3. The cause of death
• The unlawful act must
cause the death. The
rules here are the same
as they are for murder
and the egg-shell skull
rule is also to be
considered.
• Q: Tell me the rules on
factual and legal
causation
• Now complete the table
on page 9 of your
handout.
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Some additional
points on
causation
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• The unlawful act need not be the sole
cause of the death so long as it was not
trivial:
• Shohid
(2003)
The original attack which forced the V
onto a railway was sufficiently serious
to be the cause of the subsequent
death. It was not necessary for it to be
the only cause..
• Carey (2006)
In this case the original attack was no
thought to be sufficiently serious o be
the cause of death.
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• If there are a series of acts by the D
and it can not be proved which
particular act caused the death it is
sufficient to show any of the acts could
have been responsible.
• A-G Ref (No 4 of 1980)
D carried out a number of acts on the V, any of
which could have killed her, but it could not be
proved which one actually did. The court held
that D could still be convicted of manslaughter.
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Causation and Drugs
R v Cato (1976)
2 heroin users injected each other several times one
night. V died in the morning. D convicted of manslaughter
R v Dalby (1982) D supplied drugs to V, V then self injected and died. Original
conviction of UAM quashed. Merely supplying drugs did not
cause death.
R v Rogers (2003)
D assisted in clamping the tourniquet - UAM
R v Kennedy – LEADING AUTHORITY
D prepared the drug and gave it to V as requested for V to inject
himself. H of L held the V’s act broke the chain of causation.
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4. The unlawful act must be
intentional
The mens rea of unlawful act manslaughter is:-
The MR of UAM is:
The intention to commit the unlawful and
dangerous act
You must state this clearly in the exam!
• Here, an omission will not do but there need not
have been any intention to cause harm nor must d
realise the act was unlawful or dangerous.
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• Task: Complete the cases on page 13 of your
handout
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Task:
• Complete the table on your handout without
using your notes.
• Then in the groups provided write a scenario
for the rest of the class. You will need to
make a mark scheme for your answer and all
you need to consider is the offence of
unlawful Act manslaughter. (use AQA website
for help with a mark scheme!)
• NB Your tutor will check your question before
you hand it out to everyone else. This
exercise will help you to understand the topic
in more depth.
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