美国刑法中的重罪谋杀罪规则评析

Review on the Felony Murder Rule in the U.S.Criminal LAW

重罪谋杀罪是英美刑法中比较特殊,并引起很多批评和质疑的罪名。目前,美国大部分州的刑法仍保留有该罪名,但其适用范围和条件受到越来越多的限制,实际上被限于在实施重罪过程中故意或过失造成死亡结果的情形。由于该罪名的设置仍具有一些积极意义且限制了适用范围,尽管存在比较严厉的批评之声,但绝大多数州的刑法仍然保留了重罪谋杀罪规则,短期内没有被废除的迹象。

The felony murder rule is a quite controversial principle in criminal law both in Britain and American. It is still enforced in America, while in Britain, the birth place of this principle, has abolished it. Now, there are more and more restrictions on the felony murder rule in many States in the U. S. The restrictions on application leads to felony murder rule only applying to cases which the offender has knowingly or recklessly caused the death. Due to some positive meanings and the restriction on application scope, the felony murder rule still exists in most of the states despite of the harsh criticism from some scholars, and in the foreseeable fu- ture, it will still be in effect.