Law Weblog

First conviction for Familial Homicide upheld on appeal

R v JS and SM [2007] CA  This is the first prosecution under section 5 Domestic Violence, Crime and Victims Act 2004 (Familial Homicide) which came into force in 2005.  The offence was created to deal with situations where two or more persons could have caused the death of a child and each blames the other.  This is not part of the A level syllabus but the case is very interesting as an example of effective reform of the law of homicide.