Committing a homicide involves the act of killing another person.  However, despite its definition, homicide is not always considered to be an illegal act. Criminal homicide is known as malum in se in the legal world. Some homicidal crimes include: capital murder, voluntary manslaughter, death by dangerous driving, and negligent homicide. In common law terms, suicide used to be included in the definition of homicide. It was only later as the American legal system evolved that it was excluded.

Many of the different types of homicides have their own definition based on the person who was killed. For instance, infanticide is the killing of an infant and parricide is the killing of one’s parents. Homicides are not always considered a crime. Sometimes the law makes allowances for homicide depending on certain defenses against the charges brought against the defendant. One of the best known allowances is self defense. This means someone is allowed to commit homicide in order to protect his or her own life from a deadly assault.

Other types of homicides that are considered to not be criminal are those that are sanctioned by the state, such as capital punishment and those committed during war. However, a premeditated homicide is a murder that was planned well in advance of the actual act itself. There is some inconsistency in the actual definition of premeditated homicide, but it usually refers to anything that is cold-blooded.

The most serious type of homicide is murder, which is the unlawful killing of another person without reason. Some states forbid the charge of murder being brought against a defendant if the victim lives past one year and one day after the original attack. The thought behind this idea is that if a person lives that long after the initial attack, then it was most likely not the attack that killed them.

Manslaughter is also a homicide; however, it is considered to be far less serious than murder. Voluntary manslaughter is the killing of someone when provoked into doing so, such as finding your spouse in the arms of another. Involuntary manslaughter is the killing of someone without actually meaning to, generally via some form of recklessness.

Homicide itself is classified under two-degrees, first degree and second-degree. First degree murder involves premeditation and malice aforethought. Those who commit first-degree murder have a criminal intent. Second-degree murder involves malice aforethought but no premeditation. Meaning the person intends to kill someone but they don’t plan it in advance, whereas with first-degree, they not only intend to commit homicide, but they plan it all out.