Also known as: willful misconduct · wanton misconduct · reckless misconduct · willfully, wantonly, or recklessly · gross negligence · recklessness
Written by attorneys · grounded in primary & secondary sources — see below
Conduct showing a conscious disregard of a substantial and unjustifiable risk of death or serious bodily harm or extreme indifference to the value of human life or safety. The standard exceeds ordinary negligence and requires a gross deviation from the care a reasonable person would observe.
Winston West aimed a loaded revolver at a vital area of Wilma Wright's torso and fired during an argument. The resulting death allowed the factfinder to infer the extreme recklessness needed for malice aforethought. Wilma's estate recovered under a theory that treated the shooting as willful, wanton, or reckless misconduct rather than mere negligence.
Wesley Wells recklessly started a fire that forced him to choose between letting it spread or trespassing on protected land. Because his own recklessness created the emergency, the justification defense was unavailable in a prosecution for an offense defined by recklessness. The court treated his conduct as willful, wanton, or reckless misconduct that forfeited the defense.
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Wellesley Media operated a chemical plant that recklessly released toxins into a neighboring stream. When Wayne Walker suffered injury and the company raised contributory negligence, the court held the defense unavailable because the harm resulted from recklessness. The release constituted willful, wanton, or reckless misconduct that removed the bar.
Winona Walsh left a loaded firearm accessible to children after ignoring repeated warnings about the obvious risk. A child found the gun and fatally shot another. The gross deviation from reasonable care supported an involuntary-manslaughter charge based on criminal negligence or recklessness rather than the higher depraved-heart standard.
Willa Whitman honestly but mistakenly believed a substance was harmless and distributed it, creating a risk of serious injury. Because the mistake negated the recklessness required for the offense, the defense applied. The court found no willful, wanton, or reckless misconduct once the mistaken belief removed the culpable mental state.
Warwick Electronics directed employees to operate heavy machinery without required safety permits or training. An employee died when the equipment malfunctioned. The resulting death supported involuntary manslaughter on either a criminal-negligence theory or an unlawful-act theory because the conduct met the willful, wanton, or reckless misconduct threshold.
It requires a conscious disregard of a substantial and unjustifiable risk or extreme indifference to human life, a gross deviation from reasonable care that ordinary negligence does not reach.
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When the actor was reckless or negligent in creating the situation requiring a choice of harms, the justification is unavailable for any offense for which recklessness or negligence suffices for culpability.
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No. When the harm is intentional or the result of recklessness, contributory negligence is not a defense under the Restatement (Second) of Torts.
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Depraved-heart murder requires reckless indifference to an unjustifiably high risk to human life, while involuntary manslaughter involves a lesser though still criminally culpable level of risk created by criminal negligence or recklessness.
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…He refused to charge, however, that the jury must be "convinced" of malice, in the sense of "actual intent" to harm or "gross negligence and recklessness," to make such an award, and he also refused to require that a verdict for respondent differentiate between compensatory and punitive damages. The judge rejected…