Provocation (law)

In law, provocation is when a person is considered to have committed a criminal act partly because of a preceding set of events that might cause a reasonable individual to lose self control. This makes them less morally culpable than if the act was premeditated (pre-planned) and done out of pure malice (malice aforethought).^[1]^[2] It "affects the quality of the actor's state of mind as an indicator of moral blameworthiness."^[1]

Provocation is often a mitigating factor in sentencing. It rarely serves as a legal defense, meaning it does not stop the defendant from being guilty of the crime. It may however, lead to a lesser punishment. In some common law legal systems, provocation is a "partial defense" for murder charges, which can result in the offense being classified as the lesser offense of manslaughter, specifically voluntary manslaughter.^[3]

Provocation is distinct from self-defense in that self-defense is a legal defense, and refers to a justifiable action to exclusively protect oneself from imminent violence.

^ ^a ^b Model Penal Codes Commentaries to §210.3 Manslaughter
^ Criminal Law Cases and Materials, 7th ed 2012; John Kaplan, Robert Weisberg, Guyora Binder
^ Cite error: The named reference NSW s23 was invoked but never defined (see the help page).

[MPCC210_3-1] Model Penal Codes Commentaries to §210.3 Manslaughter

[CL-2] Criminal Law Cases and Materials, 7th ed 2012; John Kaplan, Robert Weisberg, Guyora Binder

[NSW_s23-3] Cite error: The named reference NSW s23 was invoked but never defined (see the help page).

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