Contents

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JCL 71 (2007) 318

Distinguishing between murder and manslaughter in practice
Barry Mitchell

The Home Office is currently engaged in a review of the homicide law, which includes consideration of the Law Commission’s report Murder, Manslaughter and Infanticide, published in November 2006, which recommended three principal offences—first and second degree murder, and a redefined manslaughter. Through an analysis of a sample of murder and manslaughter prosecutions, this article offers some timely evidence of the way in which the law works in practice. In particular, it suggests there is evidence—not mere anecdotes—that occasionally the verdicts reached by the courts do not seem to sit comfortably with the law as stated in books, and that whilst some of these apparent ‘discrepancies’ may be attributed to the vagaries of the jury, it is likely that the way in which those who investigate, prosecute and defend homicide cases also play an important role here.

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JCL 71 (2007) 342

Descent into murder: provocation's stricture-the prognosis for women who kill men who abuse them
Susan Edwards

This article considers the ruling in Attorney-General for Jersey v Holley and its impact on limiting the ambit of the defence of provocation by restoring to the reasonable person a normative capacity for self-control. In particular, the implications of this limitation on legal outcome in cases where women kill men who abuse them are explored. The inevitable demise of provocation as a defence, which follows from the ruling in Holley, is of particular concern as is the new framework for sentencing in convictions for murder which in removing judicial discretion from the sentencing decision prohibits judges from tempering the harshness of the mandatory sentence. This new murder/sentencing regime will undoubtedly result in injustice, especially in those cases where battered women kill, which, although deserving of mitigation, nevertheless fail to satisfy the strictures of provocation’s requirements post Holley, thereby resulting in an increase in convictions for murder. The Law Commission’s report on Murder, Manslaughter and Infanticide recommends a new framework for murder and manslaughter, including a new definition of provocation and also a new direction in the murder sentencing framework. This area of the law is still far from fixed.

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JCL 71 (2007) 362

'Surrendering' the fugitive-the European Arrest Warrant and the United Kingdom
Mark Mackarel

This article explains how the European Arrest Warrant forms part of the response to the modern needs of the European Union in dealing with transnational crime and considers the experience of the UK in implementing and using the warrant. The warrant is the first manifestation of the EU policy of mutual recognition in relation to cooperation in criminal matters and in questioning how effectively the UK has put the warrant into operation under the Extradition Act 2003, the article compares the analyses of the European Commission, Eurojust and the House of Lords. Finally, the approach to interpretation taken by the courts to cases coming before them concerning the warrant under the 2003 Act is examined.

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Links to other issues

Volume 65 (2001) :   1   2   3   4   5   6

Volume 66 (2002) :   1   2   3   4   5   6

Volume 67 (2003) :   1   2   3   4   5   6

Volume 68 (2004) :   1   2   3   4   5   6

Volume 69 (2005) :   1   2   3   4   5   6

Volume 70 (2006) :   1   2   3   4   5   6

Volume 71 (2007) :   1   2   3   4   5   6

Volume 72 (2008) :   1   2   3   4   5   6

Volume 73 (2009) :   1   2   3   4   6

Volume 74 (2010) :   1   2   3   4

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