murder and involuntary manslaughter - Law Reform Commission

13. The Commission also examines the present law of grossnegligence manslaughter in Chapter 4 and explores issues such as:• whether the capacity of the accused to advert to the risk or to meetthe expected standard should be a relevant consideration in grossnegligence manslaughter cases;• whether the Dunleavy test should be amended so that the risk relateto “death” or “death or serious injury”;• whether gross negligence manslaughter should be abolished andreplaced by a lesser homicide category such as negligent homicide.14. Finally, the Commission discusses the current law of motormanslaughter and the related driving offences.15. In Chapter 5 the Commission returns to its provisionalrecommendations for involuntary manslaughter, as well as other reformoptions identified in the Consultation Paper on Involuntary Manslaughter.The Commission discusses the possibility of excluding low levels ofdeliberate violence which unforeseeably result in death from the scope ofunlawful and dangerous act manslaughter, addresses submissions receivedon this issue and responds to such submissions. The Commission states itsfinal recommendation on unlawful and dangerous act at paragraph 5.38 andon low levels of violence which unforeseeably result in death at paragraph5.46. The Commission considers manslaughter by drug injection and setsout its final recommendation at paragraph 5.52.16. Regarding reform of gross negligence manslaughter theCommission discusses the proposal of amending the Dunleavy test to makethe capacity of the accused to advert to risk or to attain the expected standardrelevant to liability. The Commission analyses submissions received on theissue of capacity and responds to such submissions before stating its finalrecommendation on this point at paragraphs 5.68-5.69. The Commissionconsiders whether the statutory offences of dangerous driving causing deathand careless driving should continue to exist alongside the more seriousoffence of manslaughter and states its final recommendation at paragraph5.80. Finally, the Commission discusses the relevance of death in carelessdriving cases and puts forward its final recommendation at paragraphs 5.87-5.88.17. Chapter 6 provides a summary of the recommendations containedin the Report. The Appendix to this Report contains a draft Homicide Bill togive effect to the Commission’s recommendations on murder, involuntarymanslaughter and related matters.4