Murder Types and Degrees Murder is the unlawful premeditated killing of one human being by another. Murder is a serious crime, the one most punishable. It usually carries a sentence of life in prison without parole, if not the death penalty. Although murder sounds pretty straightforward in its meaning, there are multiple circumstances and situations that determine exactly what category of murder it falls into. Capital murder, first and second-degree are the categories that differentiate between murder crimes. When thinking of capital murder, most everyone thinks the worst of the worst and that assumption would be correct. In the United States, capital murder is defined as any murder that makes the perpetrator eligible for the death penalty. …show more content…
It is not premeditated and results from an assault in which death was a possibility but not necessarily the plan but more of an in the moment type of thing. This category of murder “may best be viewed as the middle ground between first-degree murder and voluntary manslaughter.” (FindLaw 2016) Instead of premeditation of the murder, second-degree involves more of malice aforethought, the intent to cause death or great harm to a person before committing the crime. In a criminal case in Washington, a sixteen-year-old girl was found guilty of second-degree murder for stabbing and killing eighteen-year-old Amanjanea Whitley in a fight between the two. The victim yelled at the sixteen-year-old and antagonized the situation. The younger teen claimed self-defense protecting herself and her unborn child but she had gotten up and walked to Whitley and initiated the contact. The sixteen-year-old stabbed Amanjanea twice, once in the chest and one in the back, killing her from the stab wound in the chest. In juvenile cases, the judge decides the verdict instead of a jury and the judge pronounced the teen guilty of second-degree murder while armed. As a juvenile, she could only be held up to five years until she is twenty-one and then the judge will decide her sentencing