What's Wrong With
The Felony Murder Rule?
Preface/Definitions
(criteria for all
vary from state to state)
A -
First-Degree Murder - A premeditated (planned)
killing accompanied by the intent to kill, malice
aforethought (planning to kill a particular victim or
anyone who might try to prevent such a killing).
B -
Second-Degree Murder - A non-premeditated killing
resulting from an assault in which death is probable or
highly likely.
C -
Voluntary Manslaughter - Killing in the heat of
passion or while committing a felony.
D -
Involuntary Manslaughter - Death which occurs
accidentally or in violation of a non-felony, such as
reckless driving.
E - Homicide
- The killing of a human being due to the act or
omission of another. Murder and manslaughter are included
among homicides, but not all homicides are a crime,
particularly when there is a lack of criminal intent.
Non-criminal homicides include killing in self-defense,
accidents, such as a hunting accident, or a traffic
accident where there is no violation of the law, such as
reckless driving. Intent is the criterion, which elevates a
homicide, which may be innocent or criminal, to murder.
F - Felony
Murder Rule - States that any death which occurs
during the commission or attempt to commit certain
felonies, which include arson, rape or other sexual
offenses, burglary, robbery or kidnapping, is first-degree
murder and all participants in the felony can be held
equally culpable, including those who did no harm, had no
weapon, and did not intend to hurt anyone. Intent does not
have to be proved for anything but the underlying felony.
Even if, during the commission of the underlying felony,
death occurs from fright -- a heart attack for instance, it
is still first-degree murder.
What's Wrong With
The Felony Murder Rule - Common Sense:
1 - The felony murder rule operates as a matter of law upon
proof of the intent to commit a felony to relieve the
prosecution of its burden of proving intent to kill, which
is a necessary element of murder.
2 - The intention to commit a felony does not equal the
intention to kill, nor is the intention to commit a felony,
by itself, sufficient to establish a charge of murder.
3 - The felony murder rule erodes the relation between
criminal liability and moral culpability in that it
punishes all homicides in the commission, or attempted
commission, of the proscribed felonies, whether
intentional, unintentional, or accidental, without proving
the relation between the homicide and the perpetrator's
state of mind.
4 - Under the felony murder rule, the defendant's state of
mind is irrelevant. Because intent is a characterization of
a particular state of mind with respect to a killing,
felony murder bears little resemblance to the offense of
murder except in name. First-degree murder is an arbitrary
assignment.
5 - Holding one or many criminally liable for the bad
results of an act which differs greatly from the intended
results is based on a concept of culpability which is
totally at odds with the general principles of
jurisprudence.
6 - It is fundamentally unfair and in violation of basic
principles of individual criminal culpability to hold one
felon liable for the unforeseen and unagreed-to results of
another felon's action.
7 - The basic rule of culpability is further violated when
felony murder is categorized as first-degree murder because
all other first-degree murders (carrying equal punishment)
require a showing of premeditation, deliberation and
willfulness, while felony murder only requires a showing of
intent to do the underlying felony.
8 - The purpose of creating degrees of murder is to punish
with increased severity the more culpable forms of murder,
but an accidental killing during the commission or
attempted commission of a felony is punished more severely
than a second-degree murder.
9 - While the felony murder rule survives in North Carolina
and other states, the numerous modifications and
restrictions of it by some states' courts and legislatures
throughout the United States reflect dissatisfaction with
the basic harshness and injustice of the doctrine and call
into question its continued existence.
10 - The felony murder rule can be used by prosecutors in a
manner so as to cause grossly disproportionate sentencing,
depending on the circumstances of each individual case.
11 - The felony murder rule is probably unconstitutional
because presumption of innocence is thrown to the winds.
The prosecution needs only to prove intent to commit the
underlying felony; that done, first degree-murder becomes
part and parcel of the underlying felony because intent to
commit murder does not have to be proved.
12 - (a) The felony murder rule is probably
unconstitutional because in some cases it violates the
Eighth Amendment: cruel and unusual punishment, grossly
disproportionate to the crime(s) actually committed.
(b) The felony murder rule holds unequally involved parties
equally accountable and punishable. Again, cruel and
unusual punishment if you're only the lookout for a robber
who happens to kill in the process of the robbery.
13 - The felony murder rule violates the Fourteenth
Amendment’s guarantee of due process because no defense is
allowed on the charge of first-degree murder, only the
underlying felony.
14 - The felony murder rule bears no rational relationship
or equity in its two penalties, with the penalties of other
North Carolina murder laws, including, at times, the charge
of first-degree murder.
15 - It is no longer acceptable to equate the intent to
commit a felony with the intent to kill.