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First v. Second Degree Murder
The Pennsylvania legislature divided murder into degrees in 1794 in order to limit the number of defendants who would be liable for the death penalty; only those convicted of first degree murder could be put to death. The line drawn then is one that persists in many jurisdictions to this day -- first degree murders require premeditation and deliberation. In this section we discuss both the meaning of premeditation and whether it (or something else) is a valid way of distinguishing the worst of the worst killers.
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