Third Degree Murder Vs Manslaughter

Murder and manslaughter both involve killing a human being which is the most abominable crime of all. Taking a person’s life away is incomparable to anything else. Although third-degree murder and manslaughter are almost similar, some specific criteria make them different from each other. Let’s learn about the criteria in detail about third-degree murder vs. manslaughter in the next section of this article.

Murder
Murder is the most heinous crime which happens when one person kills another person with malice aforethought. Cynicism or hatred for someone can be a great reason behind the malice thought of murder. However, the malice thought or malice that we are talking about are of two types mainly. One is implied malice, and the other is expressed malice.

A murder happens due to implied malice when a person intends to cause serious harm to another person, and the victim dies in the long run. In this case, the murderer not actually wants to kill the victim but causes harm to the extent which takes his life away. On the contrary, murder by expressed malice occurs when the murderer intentionally slays the victim so that he gets died. Murder is basically classified into three major categories. Here goes a detailed discussion on them.

First Degree Murder
The most dangerous murder or crime among all three categories is first-degree murder. It is often called capital murder. First-degree murder includes premeditation or pre-planning before killing a person. Actually, in this case, the defendant paints a cool-headed blueprint for slandering the victim.

Pre-planned and deliberate spousal killing is a common example of first-degree murder. The sentence or punishment for first-degree murder involves jail time at least for 25 years or sometimes for a lifetime. But the convict must get punished for 25 years to be capable of applying for parole.

Second Degree Murder
Second-degree murder is the opposite of first-degree murder. In second-degree murder, the defendant intentionally kills the victim, but there would be no specific pre-planning for making the murder done. That means when you slander a person out of deep anger or something like that, but you have not made any blueprint earlier for that slandering.

For example, suppose you are too much angry with your colleague and stabs him with the knife kept on your table. If your colleague dies, you will become a second-degree murderer because you intended to kill your colleague, although you did not have any pre-planning.

Third Degree Murder
Unlike first and second-degree murder, third-degree murder is unintentional murder that occurs while committing harmful acts to others. It is a reprehensible crime. Not all countries or states of the world have their laws for third-degree murder.

Only a few states of the USA have their own laws for third-degree murder. As the laws are different, third-degree murder sentence is also different in these states. For example, in Florida, a person being charged with third-degree murder gets punished with up to 15 years of prison time and also a fine which is up to $10,000. In Minnesota, prison time is up to 25 years, and the fine is up to $40,000.

Manslaughter
Manslaughter means killing a person just like murder. But there is a basic difference between murder and manslaughter. In opposition to murder, manslaughter involves killing a person without any intention of killing. There is no malice thought involved in manslaughter.

Voluntary Manslaughter
Voluntary manslaughter occurs when the defendant gets provoked by the surrounding circumstances and commits the murder of the victim coming out of his heat of passion. It basically happens when you lose your temper so badly.

For example, if you catch your spouse being involved in adultery and can not control your heat of passion, you might heat your spouse. If he or she dies, you are then charged with voluntary manslaughter.

Involuntary Manslaughter
Involuntary manslaughter also happens from unintended crimes or negligence. That means, if you are reckless enough with your actions and someone has to lose his life for your recklessness, you have committed involuntary manslaughter then. Accidental killing is a good example of involuntary manslaughter.

Third Degree Murder Vs Manslaughter
Third-degree murder and manslaughter are almost the same in their features. But they possess some unique differences. Such as,

The state of mind of the defendant differs in third-degree murder and manslaughter. Although both happens unintentionally, what actually happening in the mind of the defendant about harming the victim is the main scale of measurement here.

Sentence and punishments are different in both cases. You already know about the punishment of third-degree murder in different states. Prison time is very less, only three to nine years, in case of manslaughter.

Conclusion
So, here we sum up with a brief yet informative discussion about classifications and sentences of murders and manslaughters. We have also learned about factors in third-degree murder versus manslaughter. If you face any problems related to these things, this information might help you a lot. But always keep in mind that taking one’s life is not at all expected.