Misdemeanor manslaughter, also called unlawful act manslaughter, is a criminal homicide that occurs during the commission or attempted commission of a misdemeanor. The Model Penal Code completely rejects misdemeanor manslaughter. There is a trend to follow the Model Penal Code’s example and abolish misdemeanor manslaughter. Most states that prohibit misdemeanor manslaughter only include misdemeanors that are inherently dangerous to life in the criminal statute, excluding strict liability misdemeanors or malum prohibitum crimes. 1 A minority of states and the federal government include strict liability or malum prohibitum crimes in their misdemeanor manslaughter statutes. 2 In either jurisdiction, the defendant need only possess the criminal intent for the misdemeanor to be guilty of the killing.
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