Less culpable murders (as a privilege)

The paper analyses certain legislative provisions regarding all types of the less culpable manslaughter. In dealing with these controversial issues we presented the attitudes and opinions of our renowned criminal and legal theoreticians and practitioners. In order to get a deeper insight into the criminal and legal aspects of such manslaughter, the author launched an empirical research of the manslaughters carried out in the territorial jurisdiction of the District Court and Municipal Court in Novi Sad. The author studied a number of cases of the less culpable manslaughters (as a privilege) committed on this territory between 1996 and 2005, whose criminal procedure has already been ended with decree absolute. While studying each particular type of the less culpable manslaughter, the author made an effort to support the theory with the examples from the court practice which is in particular significant for this paper. The less culpable manslaughter is an unlawful taking life of another human which is committed under extraordinary circumstances which make the act less serious. These manslaughters include the following: the instant manslaughter, infanticide at childbirth, manslaughter out of compassion and manslaughter through negligence.