Criminal Law: Mens Rea Flashcards
What is mens rea?
The guilty mind or the fault element in an offence.
What is intention?
A decision to bring about the prohibited consequence, whether the accused desired that consequence or not.
What case defines intention?
Mohan 1975: it was held that direct intention is a decision to bring about the consequences of an act.
What is direct intent?
The desire for a specific consequence to occur.
What is oblique intent?
When Defendant does not necessarily aim for actual consequence to occur.
What are two example cases of oblique intent?
Hancock V Shankland 1986: Charged with manslaughter as there was no intention to kill when they threw a concrete block onto the motorway to block the road.
R V Nedrick 1986: Charged with manslaughter as he started a fire in a house to scare the owner but it wasn’t his intention to kill their child.
What is foresight of Consequence?
To foresee the consequences of one’s actions before they occur.
What are two example cases of foresight of consequence?
R V Woolin 1998: Charged with manslaughter as the defendant foresaw the risk of serious harm.
R V Matthews and Alleyne 2003: the defendants were convicted for murder as they threw the victim off a bridge into a river causing him to drown because he didn’t know how to swim.
What is subjective recklessness?
Where the defendant knows there is a risk of the consequence happening but takes that risk.
What case does the explanation of recklessness come from?
Cunningham 1957: the defendant was found not guilty under section 23 of the Offences Against the Person Act 1861 since he did not realise the risk of gas escaping into the neighbouring house when tearing a gas meter off the wall to steal money.
What are the two levels of recklessness?
Subjective – where the defendant realised the risk but decided to take it.
Objective – where any prudent person would have realised the risk so the defendant is guilty even if they didn’t realise the risk.
In what case was it decided that a defendant could be guilty of certain offences even though they had not realised that there was a risk?
Metropolitan police commissioner V Caldwell 1981: the defendant was charged under section 1 of the Criminal Damage Act 1971 even though he had given no thought as to the possible endangerment of life due to his intoxicated state.
What is negligence in criminal law?
The failure to meet the standards of the reasonable person.
What is transferred malice?
When the defendant misses their intended target.
What are two example cases of transferred malice?
R V Latimer 1886: the defendant was guilty of assaulting a woman even though she was not the intended victim.
R V Gnango 2011: the defendant was guilty of murder as he shot he shot the victim who got in the cross fire of a gun fight.
