Question: 1
This executive summary argues on introducing a criminal code. Criminal code is a document which states the principles and rules by which the society is bound and by violating these rules, there are clear and certain punishments in that document. It seems that criminal code is in the benefit of the society. Its potential advantages outweigh its disadvantages. There is no criminal code in England and wales and one should have to across many cases and paper of legislation to liable the defendant for criminal liabilities. By codification Lay man can also understand the terms of law. So England and Wales should introduce the criminal code.
Current law
There is no such criminal code in England and wales for criminal law. There are two
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If the cases and statutes are in well drafted form for criminal law the law will be more comprehensible and accessible for people who are related or in their interest. Criminal code provides clarity and certainty than the common law. Mark Findlay argues that Society members can understand that if they breaking the rules, there will be clear punishment for that, so people will be aware of the consequences that may be happen if they breach the law. Crime rate will be down by the criminal code. People will have the choice for doing wrong or right. But there are certain disadvantages of creating a criminal code. Perfect and complete statement of terms and principles are not possible. The law will in a certain frame work and the gradual development of law by practicing will be abolished by codification. Louis Waller & CR Williams criticizes on criminal code that statutes are inflexible and changes and new developments are not being able to respond quickly. The Code combines all the features of the understanding of a specific period as to the desirable form and limits the scoop of criminal …show more content…
The Assault is defined as “where a defendant intentionally or recklessly causes another person to apprehend the immediate unlawful violence” .
The actus reus of assault is ‘where the defendant caused the victim to apprehend immediate violence’ . Logdon v DPP. In this case the Court held that assault had been committed as the victim had apprehended immediate unlawful personal violence and the defendant was reckless as to whether she would apprehend such violence.
The mens rea of assault is where the defendant intended or recklessly apprehends immediate unlawful force to the victim . As in the case of R v Venna . Another factor of assault is either the person on who apprehend immediate violence is causing is threatened or not, to proof the assault.
As per the argument stated above Aisling would be liable, if Charles laughs to hide his fear and left the house then this amount to assault and if Charles didn’t felt any threatening and left the house by laughing then this does not amount to assault. As in the case of R v Lamb the court held no assault had taken because the gun which was pointed did not cause fear, because they don’t believe that the gun they were playing would
Criminal law attempts to balance the rights of individuals to freedom from interference with person or property, and society’s need for order. Procedural matters, the rights of citizens and powers of the state, specific offences and defences, and punishment and compensation are some of the ways society and the criminal justice system interact.
However, there are still some very key components that need to be addressed in order for the code to be used in the most efficient and effective matter. Whether it being a general disconnect between the definitions of crimes or the oversimplification of terms, the Model Penal Code still has quite a few obstacles to overcome before it will be uniformly adopted by all states. However, with today’s modern communications network, getting the greatest legal minds of our generation together would be far easier than when it was back in 1961, and by doing so could make the necessary changes that are needed for the code to become truly
The earliest vagrancy laws in England paved the way for today’s criminal law. These first laws lead to the creation of criminal law. Criminal law and the origin of vagrancy laws have created lasting ramification for today’s criminal justice system. The very creation of the laws by the elitist members of society to control the masses has highlighted the continue path of these trends. The laws are designed to control the poor and keep them from disturbing or inconveniencing those who maintain social control.
What would the criminal justice system be without punishment? Perhaps, the criminal justice system would not serve a function or cease to exist. Punishment is one of the main facets of the criminal justice system. It holds such significance that it even reflects the beliefs and values of a particular society. Fyodor Dostoyevsky (1821-1881) once said “The degree of civilization in a society can be judged by entering its prisons.” (Pollock, 2010: 315). Punishment has been around since the beginning of civilization. With its rich history, the concept of punishment has been analyzed by some of the most renowned theorists, some of which include Jeremy Bentham, Cesare Beccaria, Adolphe Quetelet and André-Michel Guerry (Pollock, 2010: 318). Once found guilty of an offense the type of punishment must be determined. There are many different rationales used to answer why it is necessary to inflict punishment. Rationales for punishment include retribution, prevention, treatment and rehabilitation. To better understand these rationales ethical systems such as utilitarianism, ethical formalism and ethics of care can be used. The general public should be knowledgeable about punishment, even more so should professionals in the criminal justice field because they are directly linked to it in some way.
The laws of the United States have been revised numerous times, and the Criminal Code of Canada is similar. The Criminal Code is a systematically arranged body of law dealing with crime. The code has been revised multiple times over the past century by the federal government
Criminological theories interpret the competing paradigms of Human Nature, Social Order, Definition of Crime, Extent and Distribution of Crime, Causes of Crime, and Policy, differently. Even though these theories have added to societies understanding of criminal behaviour, all have been unable to explain why punishment or treatment of offenders is unable to prevent deviancy, and thus are ineffective methods of control. The new penology is a contemporary response that favours the management of criminals by predicting future harm on society. However, all criminological theories are linked as they are a product of the historical time and place, and because of their contextual history, they will continue to reappear depending on the current state of the world, and may even be reinvented.
Defences of Assault and Battery In most crimes there are always defences to the offence that has been
The “mens rea” of first degree murder is that the person, with time and intent, planned out or premeditated the murder. The “actus reas” of first degree murder is the actual act of committing the murder after planning it (Lippman, 2006).
Assault is an intentional or reckless act that causes someone to put in fear of immediate physical harm, e.g. pointing a gun at the claimant by the defendant, the claimant need not know if the gun is real one. Assault must be intentional, direct and immediate. Battery is the intentional or reckless application of physical force to another person. While, false imprisonment is an unlawful restriction of the claimant’s freedom of movement by the defendant.
The criminal justice system is made up of many components that are constructed to ensure justice for victims of crimes, along with criminals. It is designed to guarantee that punishing those who are guilty will protect the innocent. Within the criminal justice system, there is a document that consists of all the jurisdictions of criminal law. This document is called the criminal code and entitles the offences that are acknowledged in the jurisdiction along with consequences that are enforced for these crimes. Throughout the years, there are offences constantly being added to the Criminal Code of Canada and many proposals being made by the Law Reform Commission of Canada.
suddenly jumps in front of her and drags her into an alley. The attacker strikes (A) and rips her clothes. Fortunately, (A) hits the attacker with a rock and runs to safety. The man’s actions do not amount to assault, they amount to a battery as he dragged the woman to an alley, stroke her, and ripped her clothes off with the intent of causing her harm. The acts of the woman are a measure of self-defense, and she cannot be held accountable for the infliction she may have induced to the man. If the man just followed her without having any physical contact with her, his actions would have constituted to assault, as he would inflict fear into the
In the case of R v Maloney (1985), the defendant and the Victim (stepfather of the defendant), were drunk when they decided to have a contest of who can load and fire a gun more quickly. The defendant shot the victim without aiming as the victim taunted the defendant to fire the gun. Lord Bridge held ‘Foresight of consequences as an element bearing on the issue of intention in murder... belongs, not to the substantive law but the law of evidence’ (Molan, 2001: 95), oblique intent here is held ...
Punishing the unlawful, undesirable and deviant members of society is an aspect of criminal justice that has experienced a variety of transformations throughout history. Although the concept of retribution has remained a constant (the idea that the law breaker must somehow pay his/her debt to society), the methods used to enforce and achieve that retribution has changed a great deal. The growth and development of society, along with an underlying, perpetual fear of crime, are heavily linked to the use of vastly different forms of punishment that have ranged from public executions, forced labor, penal welfare and popular punitivism over the course of only a few hundred years. Crime constructs us as a society whilst society, simultaneously determines what is criminal. Since society is always changing, how we see crime and criminal behavior is changing, thus the way in which we punish those criminal behaviors changes.
A defence in criminal law arises when conditions exist to negate specific elements of the crime: the actus reus when actions are involuntary, the mens rea when the defendant is unaware of the significance of their conduct, or both. These defences will mitigate or eliminate liability from a criminal offence. Insanity, automatism and diminished responsibility are examples of said defences. They each share characteristics but can be distinguished in their scope and application.
Laws serve several purposes in the criminal justice system. The main purpose of criminal law is to protect, serve, and limit human actions and to help guide human conduct. Also, laws provide penalties and punishment against those who are guilty of committing crimes against property or persons. In the modern world, there are three choices in dealing with criminals’ namely criminal punishment, private action and executive control. Although both private action and executive control are advantageous in terms of costs and speed, they present big dangers that discourage their use unless in exceptional situations. The second purpose of criminal law is to punish the offender. Punishing the offender is the most important purpose of criminal law since by doing so; it discourages him from committing crime again while making him or her pay for their crimes. Retribution does not mean inflicting physical punishment by incarceration only, but it also may include things like rehabilitation and financial retribution among other things. The last purpose of criminal law is to protect the community from criminals. Criminal law acts as the means through which the society protects itself from those who are harmful or dangerous to it. This is achieved through sentences meant to act as a way of deterring the offender from repeating the same crime in the future.