Murder in Pennsylvania law

Murder in Pennsylvania law constitutes the intentional killing, under circumstances defined by law, of people within or under the jurisdiction of the U.S. state of Pennsylvania.

The United States Centers for Disease Control and Prevention reported that in the year 2020, the state had a murder rate somewhat above the median for the entire country.[1]

## Felony murder rule

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Pennsylvania was the first state to differentiate the crime of "murder" into degrees based upon the culpability of the perpetrator.[2] The most significant departure was the division of murder into degrees, a change initiated by the Pennsylvania legislation of 1794."). Dressler goes onto explain that "[o]ther states followed the Pennsylvania practice until at one time the vast majority of American jurisdictions differentiated degrees of murder and the term 'first-degree murder' passed into common parlance."

Up until the 1960s, the common law definition of 'murder' was intentional homicide with malice aforethought; i.e. it was codified without respect to distinct elements as it is today. First degree murder in this epoch of criminal law, and in Pennsylvania at the time the statute of 1794 was ratified, was reserved for intentional homicide whereby the conduct was 'willful', 'deliberate', or 'premeditated'. The interesting point to note is that the assignment of either a first degree or second degree charge was not mandated by the common law (or the statute); that is, the decision to try a defendant for intentional homicide, in either the first or second degree was left solely in the hands of the jury. Later, in the 20th century, this became problematic in cases involving capital punishment. Because the assignment of first (or second) degree murder to a given defendant was, in a sense, randomly chosen by the jury rather than adhered to by a strict set of codes or defined elements of a crime, the argument, asserting that the levying of a capital punishment in the absence of given set of procedures fundamentally conflicted with the notions embodied by due process, gained prominence, and the constitutional legitimacy of capital punishment for certain offenses or offenders was challenged in subsequent Supreme Court cases.

In the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania, common law felony murder was codified as "Murder of the Second Degree."[3] The statute provides that "[c]riminal homicide constitutes murder of the second degree when it is committed while defendant was engaged as a principal or an accomplice in the perpetration of a felony."[3]

The Pennsylvania formulation narrows the doctrine. Indeed, "Perpetration of a Felony" is statutorily defined as

The act of the defendant in engaging in or being an accomplice in the commission of, or an attempt to commit, or flight after committing, or attempting to commit robbery, rape, or deviate sexual intercourse by force or threat of force, arson, burglary or kidnapping.[4]

A killing caused during the perpetration of a felony that is not otherwise listed in § 2502(d), i.e. aggravated assault, would be charged as Murder of the Third Degree or as a less culpable homicide provision, e.g. 18 Pa.C.S.A. § 2503 (Manslaughter).

## Penalties

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Offense  | Mandatory sentence

|

Involuntary manslaughter | Up to 5 years in prison
Voluntary manslaughter | Up to 20 years in prison
Third-degree murder  | 5 to 40 years in prison
Second-degree murder  | Life-without-parole
First-degree murder | Death (de jure)[a] or life imprisonment without the possibility of parole

## See also

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* Law of Pennsylvania

## Notes

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1. ^ Governor Josh Shapiro has set a moratorium on the death penalty.

## References

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1. ^ "National Center for Health Statistics: Homicide Mortality by State". Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. February 16, 2021. Retrieved September 24, 2021.
2. ^ See, e.g. Joshua Dressler, Criminal Law: Cases and Materials 231-32 (4th ed. 2007) ("Prior to the recodification effort begun by the Model Penal Code, most American jurisdictions maintained a law of murder built around . . . common law classifications.
3. ^ a b See 18 Pa.C.S.A. § 2502(b). An official version of the Pennsylvania Statutes is available here. Unofficial versions are available online here Archived 2012-12-15 at the Wayback Machine.
4. ^ 18 Pa.C.S.A. § 2502(d).

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Murder in the United States by jurisdiction

State|

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Federal District|

* District of Columbia

Territories|

* American Samoa
* Guam
* Northern Mariana Islands
* Puerto Rico
* U.S. Virgin Islands

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