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    American Legal Question.

    What's the difference between 1st and 2nd Degree murder?

    I'd always thought that 1st Degree murders were, generally, the cold-blooded brutal type while 2nd Degree ones were more your everyday fight-that-goes-too-far kind of thing. Now I'm not so sure, watching Oz has confused me.

    #2
    American Legal Question.

    It varies from state to state, but basically, first degree murder is used in cases where a person intended to kill another person. Second degree murder charges can be used for unintentional murder, like when a fight escalates and someone dies. Or in some cases, when a parent kills a child by abusing them.

    If someone is killed during the course of an armed robbery, I think the charge is usually stronger, even if the robber didn't originally intend to kill anyone. In addition, the people who are participating in the robbery can also be charged as though they committed the murder themselves. I forget what that's called.

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      #3
      American Legal Question.

      So in a nutshell, the difference is mostly about intent.

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        #4
        American Legal Question.

        Cheers, FF.

        The thing that confused me was the flashback sections of Oz, where they show how the characters ended up in the jail. One concerned a mafia guy who shot another gangster in the head execution-stylee - he got 1st Degree. Another showed a Latino gangster who killed someone by running them through with a metal pole, while their arms were held by two of the gangster's accomplices - 2nd Degree for that one.

        The lesson here could be don't base your knowledge of the American legal system on TV programmes.

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          #5
          American Legal Question.

          FF has provided excellent answers here, but if you are still wondering why those ended up as they did, one possible additional explanation would be our system of "plea bargaining", which is how over 90 percent of criminal convictions are secured. The Latino gangster may well have agreed to "plead" to a charge of second degree murder, rather than go to trial, and the state may well have been willing to offer him such a deal (particularly if there was some difficultly proving the facts depicted in the flashback, which make it hard for me to see the crime as not involving a degree of premeditation).

          If you add Law and Order to your viewing schedule, you'll learn all about plea bargaining.

          And the robbery hypothetical that FF notes is usally called "felony murder".

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            #6
            American Legal Question.

            Sometimes murderers can make deals with the prosecution to have their charges reduced in exchange for their cooperation. In states with the death penalty, having your charge reduced from first degree to second degree murder can mean the difference between life or death.

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              #7
              American Legal Question.

              Cross post. UA said that better than I did.

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                #8
                American Legal Question.

                Thanks guys, that's made things clearer.

                The trouble with these flashbacks is that they rarely show the reasons behind the criminals' actions or the charging and sentencing process.

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                  #9
                  American Legal Question.

                  As a general rule, anytime a gangster on TV gets their murder charges reduced, it's kind of implied that they grassed out someone who is going to kill them for it unless they go into witness protection.

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