Law & Emotions

Law & Emotions: Murder, Manslaughter, Hate Crime

No aspect of our life is more important to our existence than emotions. They are what make life worth living, or sometimes ending. To define emotion is as difficult as to define law, rather say it is as impossible as it is to define law. So it is not surprising that most of the great classical philosophers—Plato, Aristotle, Hobbes, Hume- all have there own definition of Emotion as different Jurists such as Austin, Savigny, Bentham , all have their own definition of law.

The oxford learner’s dictionary meaning of ‘emotion’ is:
A strong feeling such as love fear or anger: the part of person’s character that consists of feeling

And another meaning from answers.com is:
A mental state that arises spontaneously rather than through conscious effort and is often accompanied by physiological changes.

As emotion forms an inevitable part of our life, so in no way it is possible to avoid emotion to enter the ‘domain of law’ (which itself is very debateable). However we may sometimes deny that, but law has always taken account of emotions. One can be sufficed with examples; some relevant evidence such as gory photos are not admitted by the courts as there is a fear that it may provoke such emotions which may overcome Judges’ ability to reason in the manner required, as reports say Jurors given gory and gruesome evidence are five times more likely to convict, than Jurors who are not given those evidence.[1] May be that is a reason why Dhananjay Chaterjee’s mercy petition was never accepted, because the way he murdered Hetal Parekh the victim, was very brutal. Courts take into consideration feelings of anger and jealousy to determine whether a killing is manslaughter or murder. Criminal Law is about theories of fear, grief, and remorse. Tort law also awards compensation on the basis of emotional sufferings.

It is however always said that emotion should not be allowed to creep into the sphere of law. Law is not a place for emotions. It is reason and rationality which should stay there, not emotions. This theoretical model has persisted despite its implausibility whether it is possible. Thus the emotional aspects of our substantive and procedural law have tended to develop Sub Rosa, consisting largely of unstated assumptions about human nature.[2] There are times when emotion simply surfaces itself-for example in victim impact statements or when there are hearings on emotional damage. Emotion accompanies Law in its each and every sphere. Such as criminal law, civil law, and different acts such as domestic violence act etc.

Emotion & Criminal Law
Emotions are ubiquitous to criminal law, as they are to life. But law has always taken very dissimilar approach towards emotions. Is there any need to be sympathetic to defendants who are taken away into passions such as anger and fear? As emotions are a disturbance of personality but at the same time they embody ways of seeing the world. But law has never given consistent answer to such questions, whether it is Small v. Commonwealth, State v. Elliot, Beard v. United states, State v. Norman, Commonwealth v. Carr. In each of these cases courts took different decisions.

The most primary and basic element to convict a person for a crime is Mens Rea, Guilty Mind. Guilty mind is nothing but a compilation of ill emotions or ill feelings towards someone which provokes you to do some harm to that person or his property.

Murder & Manslaughter
Law always takes accounts of emotions. There is a distinction between murder and manslaughter. Murder requires the proof of ‘malice afterthought’ which conveys the act was prompted by or sprung from, a wicked, depraved or malignant mind-a mind which even in its habitual condition, and when excited by no provocation, is cruel wanton or malignant, reckless of human life or regardless of social duty.[3]

But the same act of killing, though intention is performed under the influence of passion or heat of blood, produced by an adequate or reasonable provocation, rather than of any wickedness of heart or cruelty or recklessness of disposition, then the law, out of indulgence to the frailty of human nature….very properly regards the offence of a less heinous character than the murder, and gives t designation of manslaughter.[4]

Both of the above constitute killing and hence constitute punishment. But it is simply considered less heinous in the case of manslaughter. Precisely because the quality of ones emotion affects the moral assessments of ones act.

There are some important elements for a murder done under passion, to qualify for manslaughter and they are Heat of passion: an intensely emotional state of mind induced by a type of provocation that would cause a reasonable person to act on impulse or without reflection.[5] Cooling time: the period after the development of heat of passion, in which it is considered that reason could overcome emotion. But this could also extend to a large period of time, but is up to court’s discretion to decide.

Hate Crime
Hate crime occur when a victim is targeted because of her membership in a certain social group, usually defined by race, religion, ethnicity etc. Hate crimes involve a very complex emotional agitation, but this is considered a very severe threat to the society hence there are very harsh laws in most legislation of the world in order to stop them

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http://legalservices.co.in/articles/article/law-&-emotions-159-1.html