Minding the Gap in Unlawful and Dangerous Act Manslaughter: A Moral Defence of One-Punch Killers
2008 ◽
Vol 72
(6)
◽
pp. 537-547
◽
Whilst it is true that the one-punch killer has crossed a moral threshold and acted wrongfully by committing an assault, his victim's death may be both unforeseen and unforeseeable. The gap between what was foreseen/foreseeable and death may thus be considerable. This article suggests it is too great; convicting the killer of manslaughter places too much weight on the element of luck. The task then is to identify an appropriate principle for regulating the gap and in the course of tackling this task the article considers and rejects, inter alia, a recent recommendation by the Law Reform Commission of Ireland.