The focus of this report will be to look at the different explanation of homicide from biological, psychological and sociological points of view. These explanations will be applied to the case of Sukhdev to gain an understanding of why Ryan committed the offence against Sukhdev, and whether the different explanations are useful in understanding the reason behind this homicide.
Examining the Case
The case involves a 22-year-old male called Ryan who lived in the Midlands, the place in which the incident took place. Ryan had been bought up by his mother after she split from his father when he was four years old. During his childhood, his mother had many relationship with various men, some of whom beat Ryan on regular occasions. One evening, Ryan and his girlfriend …show more content…
We must first understand that homicide can be both the lawful and unlawful killing of another human being. Examples of lawful killings can be during times of war, for capital punishment and for self-defence. These types of killings are not considered to be an offence in the eyes of the law. However, if the killing is unlawful then it can either be murder, or manslaughter depending of the facts of the case. Murder is ‘the killing of any person in the peace of the commonwealth, with malice aforethought, either express, or implied by law’ (Elliott and Elliott, 1905, p.292). To be convicted for murder the definition states that there must be ‘malice aforethought’, this means that the defendant must have intended to kill to the victim, and although it is not stated in the definition above, an intention to cause GBH is sufficient for a conviction of murder (Brookman, 2005). If a killing is neither lawful nor considered to be a murder, then it can fall under the category of