system
Given the following post, respond as if you're commenting on Reddit:
human
ELI5: What's the difference between the different degrees of murder?
gpt
The specific distinction between "degrees" of murder depends on the jurisdiction. For example, the US Federal Code defines murder thusly:

> Murder is the unlawful killing of a human being with malice aforethought. Every murder perpetrated by poison, lying in wait, or any other kind of willful, deliberate, malicious, and premeditated killing; or committed in the perpetration of, or attempt to perpetrate, any arson, escape, murder, kidnapping, treason, espionage, sabotage, aggravated sexual abuse or sexual abuse, child abuse, burglary, or robbery; or perpetrated as part of a pattern or practice of assault or torture against a child or children; or perpetrated from a premeditated design unlawfully and maliciously to effect the death of any human being other than him who is killed, is murder in the first degree.
>
>Any other murder is murder in the second degree.

Think of second degree murder is "murder" and first degree murder as "aggrivated murder" or "murder delux" or "murder plus" or "murder royale with cheese." 

Most jurisdictions will use "premeditation" as a reason to kick the charge to the first degree, but different states might have other criteria that would also kick it up from second to first degree.