Difference Between Actus And Mens Rea

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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. An example of actus reus with mens rea would be a teenager has been writing in a journal that he wants to kill certain kids from his school.

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