Manslaughter and Murder Definitions for The United States

First degree murder is the unlawful and deliberate act of a murder that was premeditated.  One must have thought about it,  planned the murder and executed it. This type of murder is often proven not only because of planning of the murder itself, but also other factors like having a place to hide or get rid of the body, having an escape planned, etc.

Second degree murder can be regarded as any other type of murder.  Generally speaking, an example of this would be a murder that happened very quickly without forethought. (a paradigm of this is a verbal fight that escalates to a fist fight that escalates to murder) It’s very similar to voluntary manslaughter, and some states do not differentiate between second degree murder and Manslaughter.

Manslaughter is broken in to two parts.

Voluntary manslaughter is when a murder is committed in the heat of the moment.  That is, there is no forethought and usually no attempt to hide after the fact. The intent to kill was present at the time of the killing, but in no way planned.

Involuntary manslaughter is when a murder is committed with no fore-thought and again, usually no attempt to hide after the fact, and the intent to murder was not present.  Such as getting in to a bar fight and punching someone in the nose, there by sending bone fragments in to their brain and killing them, etc. It is also most often used as a charge in cases of negligence. (careless driving, etc)

Just to note, actual laws of murder and manslaughter can vary by state.  Most of the fifty states’ criminal codes are similar, but there will be differences if you look for them.