New! H2O now has access to new and up-to-date cases via CourtListener and the Caselaw Access Project. Click here for more info.

Main Content

Casebook Read Credits
Criminal Law Casebook
Section 6 . 5 . 1
1 hour

Involuntary Manslaughter and Similar Offenses

David Kwok

The intentional homicides cases in the preceeding section posed the challenge of ascertaining blameworthiness in order to determine whether a crime should be mitigated from murder to manslaughter. The cases in this section involve unintentional acts that resulted in death, and as such, pose a different sort of blameworthiness challenge. In this section, we see how courts employ negligence and recklessness in the service of ascertaining guilt in cases involving accidental deaths. 

Some of the cases in this section present unsavory and unsympathetic protagonists; you may be able to empathize with others. In addition to noting the legal tests inivolved, you might also consider the role that emotions play in helping courts reach their outcomes in these cases. 

This book, and all H2O books, are Creative Commons licensed for sharing and re-use with the exception of certain excerpts. Any excerpts from the Restatements of the Law, Principles of the Law, and the Model Penal Code are copyright by The American Law Institute. Excerpts are reproduced with permission, not as part of a Creative Commons license.