Criminal Liability

Question 1

What is criminal liability?

Answer 1

The responsibility of any illegal behaviour that causes harm to someone or something

Question 2

What is the actus reus of a crime?

Answer 2

The prohibited act that the defendant has committed i.e. the prohibited act of murder would illegal killing

Question 3

What types of actus reus are there?

Answer 3

1. Conduct crimes - simply prohibited conduct
2. State of affairs - crimes that require circumstances to occur, for example in the crime of burglary, the person in the house must be a trespasser
3. Consequence/result crimes - crimes that require the defendant to bring about a particular result
4. Omissions - failing to act when one had a duty to

Question 4

What case involved a state of affairs crime?

Answer 4

R v Larsonneur - The defendant was deported from Ireland and when she was brought back to the UK, she was arrested for trying to enter. She was found guilty if being in the UK illegally

Question 5

What types of omissions are there and what cases did they originate?

Answer 5

1. Contractual duty originated and R v Pittwood
2. Professional duty and R v Dytham
3. Voluntary acceptance of responsibility of another originated and R v Stone and Dobinson
4. Duty to limit harm in a dangerous situation and R v Miller
5. Duty due to a special relationship and R v Gibbins and Proctor
6. Statutory duty and DPP v Greener

Question 6

Outline the case of R v Pittwood

Answer 6

The defendant was a gatekeeper at a level crossing who forgot to lower the gate before taking their lunch break which led to a man being hit by a passing train whilst attempting to crossing with their horse and cart. The defendant was fund guilty of manslaughter as they failed to fulfil their contractual duty

Question 7

Outline the case of R v Dytham

Answer 7

The defendant was a police officer that same a man being beaten to death by bouncers. They failed to either intervene by stopping the attackers or calling for back-up. They were found guilty of misconduct in a public office

Question 8

Outline the case of R v Stone and Dobinson

Answer 8

The defendant’s allowed one of their sister’s to stay with them and in doing so, accepted responsibility for her. Knowing that she was anorexic, they failed to summon medical assistance when she became increasingly ill which penultimately led to her becoming bed bound then dying from infected bed sores. Both defendants were convicted of manslaughter

Question 9

Outline the case of R v Gibbins and Proctor

Answer 9

A father and his girlfriend failed to feed the man’s daughter which led to her dying from starvation. Both the father and his girlfriend were convicted of manslaughter. Despite not being directly related the girlfriend also had a special relationship as she was living with the family

Question 10

Outline the case of R v Miller

Answer 10

The defendant was squatting and when they returned to the place that they were staying, they were drunk and fell asleep on a mattress with a lit cigarette which fell onto the mattress and caught alight. Instead of trying to but the fire out or calling the fire brigade, the defendant moved into a different room when woken. The defendant was convicted of criminal damage

Question 11

outline the case of DPP v Greener

Answer 11

The defendant had a bull terrier that escaped off of its change and into the neighbour’s garden and bit a child. The defendant was convicted of allowing their dog to enter a place it should not have been as per the Dangerous Dogs Act

Question 12

What other statutes impose a duty onto people and what are these duties?

Answer 12

○ The Road Traffic Act of 1988 makes it an offence to fail to report a road accident to the police. It is also an offence to fail to provide a breath sample when instructed to do so
○ The Child and Young Persons Act 1933 provides an offence for failing to look after a child by a parent or guardian

Question 13

What is factual causation?

Answer 13

For a defendant to be held liable for a crime, the prosecution must prove that they caused the result. This is established by using the ‘but for’ test, i.e. “would the result still be the same but for the defendant’s actions”. R v White is an example of when this was used and a defendant could not be convicted

Question 14

Outline the case of R v White

Answer 14

The defendant poisoned their mother’s drink with the intention of killing her. She died in the night from a heart attack however, not enough poison was consumed to kill her. The defendant could not be convicted of murder - but for their actions, their mother still would have died regardless

Question 15

What is legal causation?

Answer 15

The prosecution must also prove that the defendant’s act or omission was the ‘substantial and operative cause’ of the victim’s injuries. This does not need to be the only cause but must be a more than minimal cause which is known as the ‘de minimis rule’. For legal causation to be established, there must also be no breaks in the chain of causation

Question 16

What three aspects must be assessed to check that there have been no breaks in the chain of causation?

Answer 16

Medical treatment - if it is negligent as to act independently from the defendant’s actions, then it can break the chain of causation meaning that the defendant cannot be held liable for the victim’s injuries or death
The victim’s actions - if victim’s actions are considered to be ‘daft’ then they will break the chain of causation. A victim’s actions are daft if they are so unreasonable that they are deemed unforeseeable
Third party actions - if anyone that is not the victim nor the instigator acts in anyway that can change the outcome, this will break the chain of causation