Voluntary Manslaughter: This crime is best explained as the intentional killing of another where the offender did not have a planned or premeditated intent to kill; for example, in the heat of passion.

Involuntary Manslaughter: A crime referring to a killing that is unintentional and results from reckless or criminal negligence, such as driving while intoxicated.

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Legally, Murder is the crime of causing the death of another human being, without lawful excuse, and with intent to cause them grievous bodily harm or with intent to kill them. When an illegal death is not caused intentionally, but is caused by recklessness or negligence (or there is some defense, such as diminished capacity or insanity), the crime committed may be referred to as criminally negligent homicide or manslaughter, which is considered to be less serious than murder. In the United States, manslaughter is often broken into two categories: voluntary manslaughter and involuntary manslaughter.

A difficult issue in defining murder is what counts as causing death. Some legal principles have been developed to help, as this is very difficult to define. For example, many common law jurisdictions use the guidelines of the year and a day rule, which provides that a person is to be held responsible for a person's death only if they die within a year and a day of the act. Thus, if you seriously injured someone, and they died from their injuries within a year and a day, you would be guilty of murder; but you would not be guilty if they died from their injuries after a year and a day had passed.