Is manslaughter a felony?

Manslaughter is a killing that is unlawful but does not involve malice. California's law, for example, defines it as "the unlawful killing of a human being without malice" and splits it into voluntary, involuntary and vehicular manslaughter.¹

In California, voluntary manslaughter is a killing in a sudden quarrel or in the heat of passion. Involuntary manslaughter is a killing during an unlawful act that is not a felony, or during a lawful act that could cause death if done unlawfully or without due caution. That subdivision does not apply to driving. Deaths while driving are charged as vehicular manslaughter. Other states use different names and split the offense differently.

Voluntary manslaughter is a killing that would otherwise be murder but happened in a sudden, intense emotional state after serious provocation. Georgia's statute describes a person who "acts solely as the result of a sudden, violent, and irresistible passion resulting from serious provocation."^2,3

Georgia says that if enough time passed between the provocation and the killing for reason to return, the killing is treated as murder instead. Texas handles the same idea inside its murder law: murder committed under the immediate influence of sudden passion, when the defendant proves it at the punishment stage, is a second-degree felony.

Many states separate a killing caused by reckless conduct from one caused by criminal negligence. Texas calls the first one manslaughter and the second one criminally negligent homicide.^3,4

Texas defines manslaughter as recklessly causing a person's death. It defines criminally negligent homicide as causing a person's death by criminal negligence. New York draws the same line, with a separate offense called criminally negligent homicide.

Some states treat certain involuntary killings as misdemeanors. In Georgia, involuntary manslaughter by "a lawful act in an unlawful manner likely to cause death or great bodily harm" is punished as a misdemeanor.⁵

Georgia's other form of involuntary manslaughter, a death caused by an unlawful act that is not a felony, is not a misdemeanor. It carries a prison term of one to ten years.

In California, vehicular manslaughter without gross negligence is a misdemeanor. It is punishable by up to one year in county jail, not state prison.^1,6,7

California separates vehicular manslaughter into types. When the driving involves gross negligence, the sentence can be up to one year in county jail or two, four or six years in state prison. When it does not involve gross negligence, the sentence is county jail of up to one year. Under Penal Code section 17, a crime that cannot be punished by state prison or by county jail under section 1170(h) is a misdemeanor.

Ohio grades involuntary manslaughter by what the person was doing when the death happened. A death caused while committing or attempting a felony is a first-degree felony. A death caused while committing or attempting a misdemeanor is a third-degree felony.⁸

Deaths caused by impaired or aggressive driving are often charged as a separate, vehicle-based manslaughter offense. New York's vehicular manslaughter in the second degree, which covers causing a death while driving drunk or impaired by drugs, is a class D felony.^1,6,9

California's vehicular manslaughter law has a tier for deaths caused in a collision that the driver knowingly caused for financial gain. That tier carries four, six or ten years in state prison.

The victim's age can raise the grade. In New York, an adult who intends to cause physical injury to a child under eleven, and recklessly creates a grave risk of serious physical injury that causes the child's death, commits manslaughter in the first degree, a class B felony.¹⁰

New York's first-degree manslaughter also covers killing someone while intending only serious physical injury, and killing someone while intending to cause death but acting under extreme emotional disturbance.

Illinois raises involuntary manslaughter from a Class 3 felony to a Class 2 felony in some cases, including when the victim was a family or household member.¹¹

Illinois also makes involuntary manslaughter or reckless homicide a Class 2 felony when the person killed is a peace officer performing official duties. Reckless homicide has its own Class 2 grades for settings such as construction or maintenance zones and school crossings, and for some cases where two or more people die in a single course of conduct.

Even a death caused by criminal negligence alone can be a felony. Texas calls criminally negligent homicide a state jail felony, and New York calls it a class E felony.^3,4

Texas

Texas: manslaughter, meaning recklessly causing a death, is a second-degree felony. Criminally negligent homicide is a state jail felony.^3,12

Manslaughter is a first-degree felony in one situation: when the person also committed the offense of damaging a critical infrastructure facility under Section 28.09 of the Penal Code, such as a power substation or transmission facility, and that conduct caused a death. Murder committed under the immediate influence of sudden passion, when the defendant proves it at the punishment stage, is a second-degree felony.

Florida

Florida: manslaughter, including a killing by culpable negligence, is a second-degree felony. Aggravated manslaughter is a first-degree felony. It covers a death caused by culpable negligence of an elderly person or disabled adult, of a child under 18, or of an on-duty officer, firefighter, emergency medical technician or paramedic.¹³

California

California: voluntary manslaughter carries 3, 6 or 11 years in state prison, and involuntary manslaughter carries two, three or four years under Penal Code section 1170(h). Vehicular manslaughter has several tiers, from up to one year in county jail to four, six or ten years in state prison.^1,6,7

California's manslaughter statute gives the sentence for each type but does not attach a class label to it. Under Penal Code section 17, a crime punishable by state prison or by county jail under section 1170(h) is a felony and other crimes are misdemeanors, so voluntary and involuntary manslaughter are felonies and the jail-only vehicular tier is a misdemeanor. The gross-negligence vehicular tier can be punished either way.

New York

New York: manslaughter in the second degree, which includes recklessly causing a death, is a class C felony. Manslaughter in the first degree is a class B felony, vehicular manslaughter in the second degree is a class D felony, and criminally negligent homicide is a class E felony.^4,9,10,14

Georgia

Georgia: voluntary manslaughter is punishable by one to 20 years in prison. Involuntary manslaughter by an unlawful act other than a felony is punishable by one to ten years in prison. Involuntary manslaughter by a lawful act done in an unlawful manner is punished as a misdemeanor.^2,5

Illinois

Illinois: involuntary manslaughter is a Class 3 felony, and reckless homicide is also a Class 3 felony. A death caused by driving a motor vehicle is charged as reckless homicide, not involuntary manslaughter.¹¹

Some versions are Class 2 felonies, including involuntary manslaughter where the victim was a family or household member.

Ohio

Ohio: voluntary manslaughter is a first-degree felony. Involuntary manslaughter is a first-degree felony when the death happens during a felony and a third-degree felony when it happens during a misdemeanor. Reckless homicide is a third-degree felony.^8,15,16

North Carolina

North Carolina: voluntary manslaughter is a Class D felony, and involuntary manslaughter is a Class F felony.¹⁷

Virginia

Virginia: both voluntary manslaughter and involuntary manslaughter are punishable as Class 5 felonies.^18,19