New clause 22 - Definition of manslaughter
Domestic Violence, Crime and Victims Bill [Lords]
4:15 pm
'(1) Unlawful homicide that would otherwise be murder should instead be manslaughter if the defendant acted in response to—
(a) gross provocation (meaning words or conduct or a combination of words and conduct which caused the defendant to have a justifiable sense of being seriously wronged); or
(b) fear of serious violence towards the defendant or another, or
(c) a combination of (a) and (b); and
a person of the defendant's age and of ordinary temperament, ie ordinary tolerance and self-restraint, in the circumstances of the defendant might have reacted in the same or a similar way.
(2) In deciding whether a person of the defendant's age and of ordinary temperament in the circumstances of the defendant might have acted in the same or a similar way, the court should take into account all the circumstances of the defendant other than matters (apart from his or her age) which bear only on his or her general capacity for self-control.
(3) The partial defence should not apply where—
(a) the provocation was incited by the defendant for the purpose of providing an excuse to use violence, or
(b) the defendant acted in pre-meditated desire for revenge.
(4) A person should not be treated as having acted in pre-meditated desire for revenge if he or she acted in fear of serious violence, merely because he or she was also angry towards the deceased for the conduct which engendered that fear.
(5) A judge should not be required to leave the defence to the jury unless there is evidence on which a reasonable jury, properly directed, could conclude that it might apply.'.—[Vera Baird.]
Brought up, and read the First time.