Editing Crime of passion (section)

==Description==
[[File:Gianciotto Discovers Paolo and Francesca Jean Auguste Dominique Ingres.jpg|thumb|200px|A [[love triangle]] featuring Paolo and [[Francesca da Rimini]] in ''[[The Divine Comedy]]'' ([[Dante Alighieri]]), depicted by [[Jean Auguste Dominique Ingres|Ingres]]]]
[[File:Sickles homicide.jpg|thumb|Sickles shoots Key in 1859.]]
The "crime of passion" defense challenges the ''[[mens rea]]'' element by suggesting that there was no [[malice aforethought]], and instead the crime was committed in the "heat of passion". In some jurisdictions, a successful "crime of passion" defense may result in a conviction for manslaughter or second degree murder instead of first degree murder, because a defendant cannot ordinarily be convicted of first degree murder unless the crime was premeditated. A classic example of a crime of passion involves a spouse who, upon finding their partner in bed with another, kills the romantic interloper.{{citation needed|date=October 2024}}

Additionally, the [[gay panic defense]] and or "trans panic" defenses can from time to time fall under the label of a "crime of passion", as was the defense of Michael Magidson and José Merel after they were put to trial after [[Murder of Gwen Araujo|murdering trans woman Gwen Araujo]].<ref>{{cite journal |last1=Lee |first1=Cynthia |date=2008 |title=The Gay Panis Defense |url=https://scholarship.law.gwu.edu/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?article=1796&context=faculty_publications |url-status=live |journal=[[University of California, Davis]] |language=en-US |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190621184318/https://scholarship.law.gwu.edu/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?article=1796&context=faculty_publications |archive-date=2019-06-21 |access-date=2020-11-09}}</ref>

In the United States, claims of "crimes of passion" have been traditionally associated with the defenses of [[temporary insanity]] or [[provocation (legal)|provocation]]. It was used as a defense in murder cases during the 1940s and 1950s. Historically, such defenses were used as complete defenses for various violent crimes{{cn|date=September 2024}}, but gradually they became used primarily as a partial defense to a charge of murder; if the court accepts temporary insanity, a murder charge may be reduced to [[manslaughter]].{{citation needed|date=October 2024}}

In some countries, notably [[France]], ''crime passionnel'' (or ''crime of passion'') was a valid defense to murder charges. During the 19th century, some such cases resulted in a [[custodial sentence]] for the murderer of two years. After the [[Napoleonic code]] was updated in the 1970s, paternal authority over the members of the family was ended, thus reducing the occasions for which crime passionnel could be claimed.{{citation needed|date=December 2015}} The Canadian Department of Justice has described crimes of passion as "abrupt, impulsive, and unpremeditated acts of violence committed by persons, who have come face to face with an incident unacceptable to them, and who are rendered incapable of self-control for the duration of the act."<ref name="justice.gc.ca">{{cite web|url=http://www.justice.gc.ca/eng/rp-pr/cj-jp/fv-vf/hk-ch/p3.html|title=Historical Context - Preliminary Examination of so-called Honour Killings in Canada|first=Government of Canada, Department of Justice, Electronic|last=Communications|website=www.justice.gc.ca|date=24 September 2013|access-date=18 February 2016|archive-date=15 February 2015|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150215194049/http://www.justice.gc.ca/eng/rp-pr/cj-jp/fv-vf/hk-ch/p3.html|url-status=live}}</ref>{{full citation needed|date=March 2017}}

Crimes of passion were widely accepted in [[Southern United States]] states, especially in [[Texas]]. Texas, unlike most other states, did not only tolerate such crimes, but had a law which codified such killings as justifiable. Until 1973, Texas had a law which stated: "Homicide is justifiable when committed by the husband upon one taken in the act of adultery with the wife, provided that the killing takes place before the parties to the act have separated. Such circumstance cannot justify a homicide where it appears that there has been, on the part of the husband, any connivance or assent to the adulterous connection."<ref name=":0">{{cite web | url=https://faq.sll.texas.gov/questions/9606 | title=Frequently Asked Legal Questions }}</ref> This law was repealed in 1973 by Senate Bill 34 during the 63rd Regular Session of the Texas Legislature.<ref name=":0" />