double homicide

In US law, "double homicide" is not a separate, codified offence but a descriptive label for a case in which two people have been killed — typically in the same incident or by the same perpetrator. The substantive criminal classification is instead made under the relevant state's murder statutes or, in cases falling under federal jurisdiction, under 18 U.S.C. § 1111, which defines murder as "the unlawful killing of a human being with malice aforethought".

In practice, a double killing gives rise to two separate murder charges — one for each victim — rather than a single combined charge. The prosecution can therefore proceed on two counts of murder, which in first-degree murder cases may result in two consecutive life sentences or, in states that use the death penalty, may qualify the case for capital punishment. The fact that there are two victims may also count as an aggravating circumstance under state sentencing guidelines.

The federal provision in 18 U.S.C. § 1111 applies only within federal jurisdiction — for example on federal territory, at military installations, or in cases with a federal connection. Most homicide cases, including well-known double homicide cases, are prosecuted under state law, where the murder provisions vary from state to state but rest on the same basic distinction between first-degree and second-degree murder.

In the cases where the term appears on this site, "double homicide" reflects precisely this practical usage: Alex Murdaugh was charged and convicted in South Carolina on two counts of murder after the killings of his wife and son; O.J. Simpson was charged with two counts of first-degree murder after the killings of Nicole Brown Simpson and Ron Goldman; and in the Haysom case in Virginia, Jens Söring was convicted of two counts of first-degree murder after the killings of Elizabeth Haysom's parents. The term is thus a forensic and journalistic umbrella expression, not an independent legal category.