Smuggling Mercy: The Expanded Application of the Partial Defences in the Context of Carer-Perpetrated Homicide

The courts in England and Wales have long broadened the scope of the partial defences to include ‘mercy’ killers, particularly to avoid the mandatory life sentence. The 2009 reforms tightened the partial defences, creating an assumption that ‘mercy’ killers were excluded. Homicides perpetrated by unpaid carers are often described as ‘mercy’ killings. Drawing on empirical research that constructed a typology of such killings, this article demonstrates that not all carer-perpetrated homicides are ‘mercy’ killings. The data also suggests there is still a judicial willingness to broadly interpret the partial defences to include cases they label as acts of ‘mercy’. Questions must therefore be asked if this is, to quote Buxton LJ, once again a ‘smuggling in of mercy’. Either the interpretation of the partial defences needs to be stricter, or reform is needed to better reflect what is happening at trial.