Quote:
Originally Posted by jaysay
Well to me if you kill somebody in cold blood even if your the victim of abuse, is murder. I don't think there is any need for any law change at all, the socalled legal experts have great difficulty using the current laws to the full so why muddy the waters any further.
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They aren't muddying the waters at all... they are doing the exact opposite. The new law will not change anything in realistic terms - as I said earlier it is already the case that "battered wives" receive the lesser sentence of voluntary manslaughter. All this legislation is doing is bringing up to date a defence - provocation which was originally created to allow killing in the name of honour in the 18th/19th century which has then been adapted to give these people a partial defence. The question as to whether or not an abused spouse killing their husband/wife is classed as murder has been debated and settled. I don't think many without an education in this area of the law understand the differences between murder, voluntary manslaughter and involuntary manslaughter and such knowledge should be sought before commenting.