Homicide

Criminal Justice

Natasha R. Frick

Final Project: Case Consult Report

Homicide by the Mentally Ill

CCJS 461

November 1, 2014

Arthur Shawcross

June 6,1945- November 10, 2008

Homicide is a more complex term than what most people do not fully understand or grasp the full concept of what it entails. Homicide is not always done purposely nor does it strictly mean that all deaths are considered to be a crime. When someone commits a murder out of self-defense it is not considered a crime that can be punishable as long as there is concrete evidence supporting the accusations. Other types of homicides include murder, manslaughter, and legal homicides. Murder is one of the most serious versions of criminal homicide. This type of crime often is premeditated and intentional. The second type of homicide is manslaughter, which can mean two different things. Involuntary manslaughter is when someone accidently kills another on accident. This may include a drunk driver. However, voluntary manslaughter is when the person did intend to kill the person but the person did not premeditate the events or have the normal rage that someone has when committing a murder. Lastly, you have legal homicides. A legal homicide is defined as something done out of self-defense. The purpose of this report is to look at homicide from the mentally ill state of mind. (Thomson Reuters, 2014)

Society is under the impression that those who suffer from mental illness are actually more violent and more likely to commit homicide due to their illness. This has not been fully proven by statistics and psychological studies. In fact it has been said that those who were mentally ill often were not violent or there was not a lot of them that committed homicides. Some stories including individuals who have committed homicides who did have psychological issues. There are a lot of assumptions that are made by the public. There are websites as well as psychological studies that have...