In Australia, murder is a criminal offence where a person, by a voluntary act or omission, causes the death of another person with either intent to kill, intent to inflict grievous bodily harm, or with reckless indifference to human life. It may also arise in circumstances where the accused was committing, or assisting in the commission, of a different serious crime that results in a person's death. It is usually punished by life imprisonment.
Australia is a federal nation and the law of murder is mostly regulated under the law of its constituent states and territories. There is also federal murder offence available in limited circumstances.
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South Australia
In South Australia, section 11 of the Criminal Law Consolidation Act 1935 states:
Any person who commits murder shall be guilty of an offence and shall be imprisoned for life.
The legislation therefore prescribes a mandatory sentence of life imprisonment for murder. This is subject to a mandatory minimum non-parole period of 20 years under paragraph 47(5)(b) of the Sentencing Act 2017. The legislation does not define the offence of murder itself. Instead, particulars of the offence are defined by the common law, with some minor variations.
Section 12A of the Criminal Law Consolidation Act 1935 provides a statutory version of the constructive murder rule, providing that a person who causes death by an intentional act of violence in the course of another offence punishable by imprisonment for 10 years or more, is guilty of murder.
