For a crime to occur there has to be two main components for the negative action to be considered a criminal offense; the actus reus and the mens rea. These elements of crime symbolize the distinct functions that a criminal has to execute in order to be prosecuted. The act of battering another person is not sufficient evidence for the defendant to be found guilty, but the malicious intent to assault another person has to go hand in hand with the physical action. Self-defense can defy the mens rea element in order to classify such action as a crime. In a non-lethal self-defense, the defendant has the right to strike back if he or she feels in danger of the situation and has the duty to flee the scene. A nail file can be intimidating to anyone …show more content…
Nail files are pointy and can cause some serious harm, especially on the body’s soft and accessible areas such as the neck, face, and groin area. Referring to the case scenario, the male and his partner felt threatened by the intoxicated female, and decided to flee the nightclub. The male felt the need to hit the intoxicated female so that he and his partner could leave the nightclub safely with no persecution. If a proper execution of the intoxicated woman’s nail file into the man’s eye or his partner’s eye would have been completed, then the intoxicated woman could have cause severe harm or possible fatality to either the man and his partner or both. The intoxicated woman could not pled innocent to the cause of her action (stabbing someone with the nail file) in the excuse that she was intoxicated and not having full control of her own mental capability because she had voluntarily attended the nightclub with the intent of getting intoxicated. Even though the intoxicated woman does not strike anybody with nail file, she still had the …show more content…
None of them was engaging on illegal activity until the situation between the intoxicated woman and the couple got hectic, and the intoxicated woman decided to withdraw a nail file with the intent of harm. The male felt the need to stop the intoxicated woman from her attempted aggravated assault, which involves the display of a weapon. Aggravated assault is a felony, therefore; the action of the male deciding to go “force with force” is justified in the premise that he has the right to defend himself with his bodily force. It is smart on his part to use a force that can cause less harm than what the intoxicated woman’s force could have caused to him; the use of a less harmful force in comparison to the aggressor’s weapon can be justified as self-defense. Applying the stand-your-ground law would have enabled the male to keep fighting until he felt safe, since he had no need to leave the nightclub; most likely a couple of more punches in her stomach and the disarmament of the nail file would have been sufficient. The male did not “stand his ground” because he decided to leave the nightclub, yet he did act in
On March 12, 2012 Bill Lee, the Chief of Police for Sanford Florida, explained Zimmerman had not been arrested because the police found no evidence to refute Zimmerman’s self-defense claim (Timeline of events: Trayvon Martin shooting case). Then the media decided to bully the state of Florida into bringing Florida by influencing public opinion. One of the ways the media achieved this was by making it seem like the reason there was no evidence to refute Zimmerman’s claim of self-defense, and Zimmerman’s eventual acquittal, was because of the controversial law in several states, including Florida, known as “Stand-Your Ground.”
There are many different meanings of crime and many different reasons people commit crimes. In the United States, defense lawyers try to prove their clients did not know what they were doing when they committed the crime and the prosecution tries to prove the defendant did know what they were doing when they committed the crime. However, the prosecution must have the elements of a crime, which means state of facts to prove someone guilty. The prosecution lawyers and the defense lawyers use elements of a crime for the defendant. The following are examples of elements of a crime: mens rea, autus reus, concurrence of actus renus and mens rea. All of these can be used as elements of a crime.
These crimes (Aggravated assault, Non-Negligent/Negligent Homicide) are serious crimes in America and throughout other countries, but in America you would face time in prison for the crime you committed. You have aggravated assault which is crime that it an attempt to cause serious bodily injury to another or it is consider purposely knowingly or recklessly harm to the value of a human life. Then you have negligent homicide which is a crime that it much more less intent, but can be charge if the person causes death towards another through criminal negligence. Last of we Non-Negligent homicide which is way different from Negligent homicide, but it is a willful (non-negligent) killing of one human by another. Out of all these crimes each
In chapter 5 of Images of color, images of crime author Peggy McIntosh refers to White privilege as an invisible package of unearned assets that can count on cashing in each day, but about which 'meant' to remain oblivious. White privilege is like an invisible weightless knapsack of special provisions, maps, passports, codebooks, visas, clothes, tools, and blank checks. It is apparent that white people receive unearned advantages and benefits that are not accessible to people of color. In fact, how can someone even question that the fact that people of color are treated differently than Whites, when African Americans constitute a significant portion of individuals who are incarcerated today. Here is an example of an experience that I had a few years ago that made me realize that I was treated differently because I was not white. I worked at the Ymca for about three years at a summer camp, which was predominantly white. I loved working there, but I kept to myself because I was treated differently from my co-workers. In fact, the white individuals that I worked with would constantly ma...
The four criminal law elements of self-defense are nonaggressor, necessity, proportionality, and reasonable belief. Nonaggressor is when the defender did not in any way provoke or stray an attack. When it comes to self-defense it is only available when it comes to unprovoked attacks. If one provokes someone they cannot use self-defense to defend themselves from the attack because they provoked it. However there is one exception and that is the withdrawal exception. The withdrawal exception is when the initial aggressor withdrawals completely from the attack they provoked they can defend themselves against their initial victims. An example of nonaggressor self-defense is Melody hanging out at the bar by herself and Samantha comes up to her trying
...ated in the previous cases that were brought to your attention each case was claimed to be self-defense. When in all reality there was clear evidence that the accused had enough time to think about the situation and pursue the victim. Stand Your Ground laws are not fair in any kind of way. Though the constitution gives rights to self-defense and to bear arms, it gives no right to kill another person with a premeditated cause or malicious intent. With the stand your ground law racial differences, the way someone looks, or even a person’s sexual orientation will become a problem. A person may not like the way another person looks, sounds, or looks at another individual and kill that person and claim stand your ground as a cause for killing that individual. What would your opinion be if you were present the opportunity to be for the stand your ground law or against it.
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.
Working through The Full Code Test within, The Code for Crown Prosecutors enables the conclusion to be reached as to whether Harry should be charged in accordance with s47 of the Offences against the Person Act 1861, for assault occasioning actual bodily harm ('ABH'). For conviction, prosecutors would demonstrate the actus reus and mens rea of ABH, in this case that Harry assaulted and caused the actual bodily harm to Rob and reckless or intended the assault.
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
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.).
The world will always be full of crime, thus it is necessary for scientist to grow along with the gruesome and increasing amount of violations. Due to this it sparked scientist to develop crime theories in which emerged to explain why crime is caused by individuals. Some of the few theories that have advanced over the past century and provided many answers to why crimes are committed are biological theories, psychological theories and learning theories. These theories provide an insight to its first use and change in order to provide answers.
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.
What is street crime? According to McDonald and Balkin (1983) define street crime as “personal contact criminal victimization (p.419)”. As we read this article it argues from different viewpoint that street justice can be explained from different theoretical perspectives. There are three theoretical perspectives that examines the role of justice as a means of informal social control and as a reactionary process to dynamics of social strain and subcultural demands. This theoretical analysis is then applied to concepts of justice, including retributive, distributive, restorative, and procedural. The derived street justice paradigm incorporates these various forms of justice as they are linked with cultural imperatives associated with street culture and
Self-defense is “the right to prevent suffering force or violence through the use of a sufficient level of counteracting force or violence.” When translated into layman’s terms it means when being attacked a person has the right to fight back with the same level of force. This does not mean, if a man starts to hit another man, the first man has the right to mortally wound his assailant. The third paragraph in Section 5-2-606 of the law reads,
Actus reus, mens rea…A guilty crime, a guilty mind. These words ring true for and crime, whether it is a simple misdemeanor, or as bad as a felony. Crimes can be any manner of things, from crimes against the person to crimes against property and against justice. The law has the extent of inchoate offenses, or “planning” to do a crime. These include an attempt at serious crime, conspiracy, incitement, or solicitation of services. Each of these is viewed differently in the eyes of the public and the eyes of those who interpret the law. In the United States, crime was at one of the highest rates in the world in the 1990’s, but has since decreased steadily. However, through massive amounts of mainstream media, the public is now far more aware of crime that does happen. The U.S. now spends far too much money and time focusing on legislation involving capital punishment, allowing jails to become over crowded with too-small crimes such as possession of marijuana, allowing ridiculous amounts of money to be spent on jails and prisoners.