AQA A Level Law - Murder - Loss of Control Student Handout with questions & activities

A 7-page student Handout/Worksheet on the defence of loss of control.

Written by an experienced Law Examinaer and used with many groups and classes across the years.

The Handout is structured as follows:

This defence, along with diminished responsibility, can reduce a murder charge to voluntary manslaughter if successfully pleaded. It replaces the old defence of provocation and is outlined in the Coroners and Justice Act 2009.

A person (D) is not convicted of murder if:

D’s actions resulted from a loss of self-control.
The loss of self-control had a qualifying trigger.
A person of D’s sex and age, with normal tolerance and self-restraint, might have reacted similarly.
The Act provides guidelines for these points, with cases from the old provocation defence serving as illustrations. If D shows evidence of loss of control, the prosecution must disprove it.

Key Cases:

Doughty: D killed his baby due to continuous crying. The Court of Appeal quashed his murder conviction, stating provocation should have been considered.
Thornton: D, a battered wife, killed her husband. The Court recognized ‘battered wife syndrome’ and quashed her murder conviction.
Ahluwalia: D killed her abusive husband after hours of contemplation. The defence of provocation was accepted on appeal.
Ibrams: D planned and killed V after a week of provocation. The defence failed as D had time to cool off.
Humphreys: D, a prostitute, killed her abusive pimp. The Court of Appeal allowed her characteristics to be considered in the defence.
The defence is not available if D acted out of revenge or had time to cool off. Certain characteristics, like age and sex, are relevant in assessing if a hypothetical person would act similarly. However, temporary states of mind or mood are not considered relevant characteristics.