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Manslaughter Persuasive Essay

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Upon Google searching (2017), “define manslaughter”, one will discover that is is “the crime of killing a human being without malice aforethought, or otherwise in circumstances not amounting to murder.” In other words, manslaughter is the unintentional act of killing a human being. After Google searching (2017), “define murder”, it is evident that it is “the unlawful premeditated killing of one human being by another.” Alternatively, it means one human being plans to kill another human being and does it. Is taking a person’s life due to driving under the influence an intention or unintentional wrongdoing? Some may attest that the intoxicated driver did not conspire to kill someone, therefore, it is manslaughter. Others may inquire that the …show more content…

Most of the states in the United States consider driver under the influence and kill someone, vehicular manslaughter. According to Stim (2015), Alaska, Montana, and Arizona are the only three states that more often than not charge defendants with murder over manslaughter in vehicular deaths caused by driving under the influence. To put it in perspective, 94% of the states in the United States prefer manslaughter convictions over homicide. Vehicular manslaughter is broken down into two divisions. Vehicular manslaughter with gross negligence and vehicular manslaughter with ordinary negligence. Gross negligence comes from driving that is extremely reckless. Ordinary negligence spawns from the driver failing to take the precautions as a typical driver, and injury/death is caused. For example, if an intoxicated driver is swerving all over the road and strikes a car that results in death for the opposing driver, that would be gross negligence. Now if an intoxicated driver fails to yield properly and t-bones a car that results in death of the other driver, that would be ordinary negligence. If a defendant is found guilty of vehicular manslaughter, they face at least 4-10 years behind bars for each person killed. Therefore, if a car has two people in it that were killed, the sentencing can be doubled. In comparison, if a murder charge sticks, the defendant’s sentence can range from 10 years to lifelong imprisonment. McCurley (2014) argues that both of the drivers involved in the accident could be found to be intoxicated. “If one driver lives and the other dies, why should the driver that survives be charged with murder?” He is saying that both drivers can be at fault as they were both intoxicated. The reason we lock away homicidal people is because of their mental state. We do not want them to be able to roam the free world and possibly commit murder again. When people drive under the influence and take a life, that does

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