Murder is the intentional, premeditated killing of another human being. The premeditation requirement for murder was historically described in the law as “malice aforethought.”

Laws regarding murder vary from state to state, and some states have a separate criminal offense of capital murder, which usually involves the most egregious circumstances, such as killing a peace officer in the line of duty or lying in wait to ambush and kill the victim. Capital murder offenses carry a potential death penalty.

And some states use the distinction of first degree murder (done with premeditation and punishable by death or life in prison) and second degree murder (generally an intentional killing without premeditation—also known as manslaughter or voluntary manslaughter in some states).

The criminal offense of murder is generally located in a state’s statutes—often in the penal or criminal code.

In Nevada, murder is defined under Nevada Revised Statutes (NRS) 200.030. The state distinguishes between first-degree and second-degree murder. First-degree murder involves willful, deliberate, and premeditated killing, or killing that occurs during the commission of certain felonies, and it may be punishable by death or life imprisonment. Second-degree murder is an intentional killing but without premeditation. Nevada does not use the term 'capital murder,' but first-degree murder under certain aggravating circumstances can lead to the death penalty, aligning with what some states refer to as capital murder. These aggravating circumstances could include factors such as the victim being a peace officer killed in the line of duty or the murder being carried out in a particularly heinous, cruel, or depraved manner. Manslaughter, which is the unlawful killing of a human without malice aforethought, is a separate offense and is categorized as either voluntary or involuntary, with voluntary manslaughter resembling second-degree murder in some other jurisdictions.