Law Commission consultation on homicide offences

Closes 30 Sep 2026

Chapter 4: A new homicide structure

Consultation Question 1

We invite consultees’ views on a new structure of homicide law. We ask specific questions in the following chapters about which offences would sit in each tier, the fault elements of homicide offences, and the operation of the partial defences. Here we welcome views that focus on the proposed three-tier structure itself.

We provisionally propose that the structure of the general homicide offences should have three tiers, to reflect different levels of culpability.

Do consultees agree?