Question 1
Actus reus
Actus reus refers to a criminal act that occurs or happens as a result of voluntary bodily movement (Dressler, 2015). In other words, it is a physical activity that harms an individual, or damage properties. Every physical activity such as murder to the destruction of public properties qualifies to be an actus reus. It consists of all the elements of a crime other than the state of mind of the offender. Apparently, it may consist of conduct, the state of affairs, result, or an omission.
The conduct itself may be termed as a criminal act. For instance, if a person lies under oath, it represents the actus reus of perjury. In fact, it doesn’t matter whether the lie has been believed, or had any adverse effect on the outcome
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Lastly, motivational concurrence where mens rea motivates or activates actus reus (Dressler, 2015).
Question 2
With the rapid increase in crime rates, the defendants must act recklessly or intentionally to be held guilty. Crimes can be classified into two types of intents; general, and specific intent.
A general intent is the most usual modus operandi for most of the misconducts. Under the general aim, the prosecution requires proving that the offender intended to commit an act in question (Herring, 2014). They are those offenses that have no particular mens rea component in them. The defendant’s act’s results are irrelevant in a general intent crime.
An example of a general intent offense is robbery, which means taking something from someone by force, or by the threat of bodily physical harm. Some people may term theft as a specific intent crime. However, the purpose of the act depends on the law, either the intent was to completely deprive the owner of the object stolen, or force the victim to give up on the property. Pg.
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Extortion does not need any proof; however, it requires the specific intent of persuading the plaintiff to give out part of his/her properties. For instance, in the scenario where Susan understands that Jackie has a hidden secret, which if not revealed, it could disgrace Jackie. If it happens that Susan requests some cash from Jackie in exchange for her silence, this will result in a case of extortion. Apparently, extortion is a consensual offense, meaning, Jackie has to consent to pay Susan’s demand. If he doesn’t agree, and Susan still receive the cash, she could go about getting the money through traditional Larceny. Pg.
Examples of Indictable Crime today and then are the murder, armed robbery, larceny, fraud, and finally Rape. The next type of crime is a Summary crime. Summary Crimes are crimes that are less than a felony and would usually lead to a short term imprisonment. Examples of this type of crime then are Vagabonds wandering around without a job. Summary Crimes then that are considered Summary crimes now are poaching of animal when not in season or on private property, Petty theft which is a lesser version of theft, and finally vandalism (Mitchell).
This trial was between a group called the Mau Mau and Great Britain. Great Britain colonized Kenya in 1895. Great Britain's colonization of Kenya had major effects, good and bad.But in the early 1900’s, the Kenyans wanted independence. They formed a independence group called the Mau Mau. The Mau Mau were mostly made up of a tribe called the Kikuyu. As they tried peaceful protests and demonstrations, the Mau Mau were usually attacked by the British. Britain believed in order to stop the Mau Mau from their independence movement and the violence they were causing on the Britain's, Britain needed to use force. The purpose of this trial was not to make a decision about if Britain's violence was justifiable or not, but to figure out if the Mau Maus
Were actus reus and mens reus present at the time this crime was committed? Explain.
When it comes to the elements of attempt there are two. It is the purpose or intent to commit a specific crime and an act(s) in order to carry out the intent. There are two types of attempt statures and they are general attempt statute and specific attempt statute. General attempt statute is a single statute that involves the attempt to commit any crime in the state’s criminal code. An example of this is just any crime. Specific attempt statute is defining attempts as specific crimes. An example of this is attempted murder. Prosecution must prove beyond a reasonable doubt in criminal attempt cases and these are attempt mens rea and actus rea. Attempt mens rea is the specific attempt to commit a crime and actus reus is taking steps to complete a crime.
“ Criminal law is the body of law that relates to crime.” (Wikipedia, 2014) This law encompasses several different aspects of our government and the ways used to regulate them. Maintaining the peace and order of the public is one aspect. Law enforcement officers also try to keep good conduct of the public. Anyone who places the safety of the public in jeopardy, is in violation of this law. Punishment is used in a variety of ways to discipline any person who breaks these laws. There are four main sources used in today’s criminal law:
These interests are violated by the intentional torts of assault, Battery, trespass, False Imprisonment, invasion of privacy, conversion, Misrepresentation, and Fraud. The intent element of these torts is satisfied when the tortfeasor acts with the desire to bring about harmful consequences and is substantially certain that such consequences will follow. Mere reckless behavior, sometimes called willful and wanton behavior, does not rise to the level of an intentional
Crimes come in many different shapes and forms. To define these crimes, there are also many different elements to an act that makes it a crime. This goes for both complete and attempted crimes. When it comes to attempted crimes, the Criminal Justice system uses three different test to help define and distinguish if a person is guilty of attempting a crime. These test are the last act test, the physical proximity test, and the dangerous proximity test. Each test has its own elements and requirements that must be met for the crime be considered an attempt. Understanding each of these elements is what gives a grasp on understanding what an attempted crime is.
meanings. A crime is any act constituting an offense punishable by law. An assault is any action
When defining the difference between actus reus and mens rea you must first understand what each term means before determining the difference, the difference between the two are significant when it is being used in a court case. Actus reus simply means the guilty act in Latin to where mens rea is the intent to commit a crime. There are crimes in which are intended to cause harm to others intentionally and then there are some that are unintentionally. They are significant within criminal law because prosecutors need to be able to prove that a crime was committed with intent before they can use mens rea.
Crime is some action/omission that causes harm in a situation that the person/group responsible ‘ought’ to be held accountable and punished irrespective of what the law book of state say.
the formulation or execution of a common plan or conspiracy to commit any of the
To be criminally liable of any crime in the UK, a jury has to prove beyond reasonable doubt, that the defendant committed the Actus Reus and the Mens Rea. The Actus Reus is the physical element of the crime; it is Latin for ‘guilty act’. The defendant’s act must be voluntary, for criminal liability to be proven. The Mens Rea is Latin for guilty mind; it is the most difficult to prove of the two. To be pronounced guilty of a crime, the Mens Rea requires that the defendant planned, his or her actions before enacting them. There are two types of Mens Rea; direct intention and oblique intention. Direct intention ‘corresponds with everyday definition of intention, and applies where the accused actually wants the result that occurs, and sets out to achieve it’ (Elliot & Quinn, 2010: 59). Oblique intention is when the ‘accused did not desire a particular result but in acting he or she did realise that it might occur’ (Elliot & Quinn, 2010: 60). I will illustrate, by using relevant case law, the difference between direct intention and oblique intention.
A suspect can be convicted of many different crimes, but the crimes that are the most interesting are called inchoate offenses. An inchoate offense is a type of crime done by taking a illegal step to the commission of another crime. The inchoate offenses are attempt, solicitation, and conspiracy ("Inchoate offense | Wex Legal Dictionary / Encyclopedia | LII / Legal Information Institute", n.d.). Solicitation is one of bottom inchoate offenses, meaning that it does not take much for a suspect to be found guilty of solicitation. Prosecutors must be able to prove two things to be effective in convicting a suspect of solicitation ("Criminal Solicitation Law & Legal Definition", n.d.). The first thing a prosecutor must prove is that a person commands another person to commit a crime. The second thing a prosecutor must prove is that the person who is commanded to commit the crime will actual commit the crime so there will need to be a specific intent ("Criminal Solicitation Law & Legal Definition", n.d.). When being charged with solicitation the other person can be charged with conspiracy. “Conspiracy is a more serious charge than solicitation as well, so if the other person does agree, the individual soliciting the crime will likely be charged with conspiracy rather than solicitation” ("Criminal Solicitation Law & Legal Definition", n.d.).
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.
Torts can be divided into two main categories; negligence and intentional torts. Negligence torts function as the hallmark of tort liability, and of tort law suits, are the most common. Under this legal premise, people have the responsibility to act with proper diligence and reasonable care and skill to avoid injuring other people. Intentional torts are civil wrongs that were committed deliberately. In contrast to a negligence act that is usually an accident caused by the lack of responsible care. Under tort law, intentional torts include acts of assault, battery, slander and libel, false imprisonment, and intentional infliction of emotional distress.