This article is a simplified description, in layman’s terms, of the law of homicide in Canada. For the actual applicable law, see the Criminal Code of Canada.
In Canada, criminally culpable homicide is murder, manslaughter, or infanticide. Homicide that does not fit into one of these categories is not a crime.
Infanticide It occurs when a person of the female sex causes the death of her newborn child when her mind is disturbed as a result of the effects of childbirth.
The maximum penalty for infanticide is five years in prison. There is no minimum sentence.
involuntary manslaughter It occurs when a person causes the death of another through an unlawful act but without the intention of killing the victim. A classic example of involuntary manslaughter is the scenario of a punch that causes the victim to fall, hitting their head against a curb, the latter impact causing death. There is an unlawful act, aggression, but there is no intention to cause death.
In certain circumstances, manslaughter can be found when fatal blows are deliberately inflicted as a result of physical or mental shock to one’s system. In Canadian law, this concept is known as provocation. Legal provocation can reduce what might otherwise be the crime of murder to manslaughter.
In rare circumstances, the crime of murder can be reduced to manslaughter if the use of alcohol or other drugs has affected the mental processes of the perpetrator.
As a very general statement, it is correct to say that all criminally culpable homicide that does not constitute murder is culpable homicide. This broad concept may capture factual situations other than those discussed earlier under this heading.
The maximum sentence for manslaughter is life in prison. Unless it is a firearm, there is no minimum sentence.
Murder occurs when a person intentionally causes the death of another or intentionally inflicts bodily harm that he or she knows is likely to cause death and is not acting in self-defense or in defense of another person as defined by law. The murder can be first degree murder or second degree murder.
First degree murder occurs in the following circumstances:
• Whether the murder is planned and deliberate;
• If the victim is a law enforcement officer or prison guard;
• If the homicide is caused in the course of a kidnapping, sexual assault, or kidnapping;
• If the murder is caused in the course of criminal harassment of another (eg, stalking);
• If the murder is caused in the course of terrorist activity;
• If the homicide is caused as part of the activities of a criminal organization;
• If the murder occurs in the context of intimidating a group of people or the public in general, to prevent the administration of justice, in the context of intimidating a participant in the justice system or in the context of intimidating a journalist for the purpose of attempting to dissuade said journalist from disseminating information about a criminal organization;
• Any murder, if the perpetrator has previously been convicted of murder.
The sentence for first-degree murder is life in prison without parole for at least 25 years (there are different sentencing rules for people under 18).
Second degree murder is any murder that is not first degree murder. Generally speaking, second degree murder is deliberate murder that occurs without planning and does not involve any of the victims or circumstances listed above in first degree murder.
The sentence for second-degree murder is life without parole for at least ten years or any greater number between then and twenty-five years, as decided by a judge (there are different sentencing rules for people under 18).