By Evi Tsakali,
We see them in movies, we read about them in books, we sing them in romantic songs. We could claim that we have built a whole narrative about them; they are the crimes of passion. The Legal Information Institute of Cornell Law School defines them as crimes committed in the “heat of passion” in response to provocation, as opposed to one that was premeditated or deliberated. Provocation serves as a partial defense to manslaughter because, while it does not completely excuse the defendant of the killing, it can downgrade the degree of the crime, and therefore the associated punishment. The provocation defense serves to recognize that some reactions can be provoked spontaneously, without giving one the opportunity to reflect on his or her actions.
As a matter of fact, we tend to associate crimes of passion with jealousy, adultery, and people crazy in love. They are, in our minds, the fruit of lust and deep love. But are they though? Can crimes of any type be described as such in a standard and legal language? I recently read an opinion article by the professor of criminal law at the University of Geneva, Ursula Cassani, who explained how “the term of passionate murder does not apply to jealousy crimes or adultery affairs”. Like her students -who she mentions in her description-, I was surprised too. As it seems, the term crimes of passion or passionate murder have gained a whole new meaning in the 21st century; and for the better.
Having studied the opinions of numerous professors, judges, and lawyers of countries that follow the European continental law system, I realized how obsolete the term has become and how it should be maintained (and if the denomination remains the same), for only specific cases. European jurists distinguish a number of cases, where the “passionate murder” term can apply due to the emotion provoked by the perpetrator or because of necessity. Such cases include a parent who finds their daughter being raped and kills the rapist, or a woman suffering from an abusing husband continuously, and murder seems the only possible way to escape the domestic violence.
In my humble opinion as an undergraduate law student, the term “crime of passion”, if retained and not abolished completely, ought to be totally distinguished from crimes induced by jealousy in European penal codes. Especially taking into consideration the increased number of femicides in Europe and during the pandemic, by abolishing the term, we stripe the murderers off of a rather convenient alibi; we will not give them the opportunity that they were “crazy in love”, or that they wanted their partner “to be only theirs forever”, or simply that they were “blinded by jealousy” anymore. We would put an end to the phenomenon of murder (because that is what it is) by being legally baptized an act of passion, and romanticizing it with our penal codes’ blessings. In a more human tone, last but not least, if we commit a crime because of jealousy, to claim or reclaim a partner, who we do not see as a partner, but as an object that belongs to us, is it out of love that we act, or out of pure ego?
References
- Crimes of Passion, Legal Information Institute. Cornell Law School. Available here.
- Dryef, Zineb et Vincent, Faustine. Féminicides : le « crime passionnel », un si commode alibi. Le Monde. Available here.
- Mansour, Fati. Faut-il débaptiser le meurtre passionnel?. Le Temps. Available here.
