Duress/ Duress of circumstance Flashcards
R v Graham (1)
D must be forced to act because he feared death or serious injury to himself.
R v Martin
D must be forced to act because he feared death or serious injury to an immediate relative.
R v Conway
D must be forced to act because he feared death or serious injury to someone D reasonably regards themselves to be responsible for.
R v Graham (2)
Two part test:
1. Subjective and considers whether D was forced to commit the offence because he reasonably believed that otherwise death or serious injury would follow.
- Objective and considers whether a sober person of reasonable firmness sharing Ds characteristics would have reacted to the situation the same way as D did.
R v Valaderrama - Vega
Neither threats of financial ruin nor threats to reveal sexuality are sufficient.
R v Hudson and Taylor
Threats to cut someone up are sufficient.
R v Flatt
Sober means the effect of drink or drugs on Ds ability to resist the threats can’t be considered.
R v Bowen
Accepted the following characteristics could be relevant:
Age
Pregnancy
Serious physical disability
Recognised mental illness
Gender
However it was decided having a low IQ was not a relevant characteristic that could be taken into account.
R v Gill
Threats relating to stealing a lorry in a weeks time are not imminent.
R v Hasan
D must reasonably expect retribution to happen immediately or almost immediately.
A D who makes an honest and reasonable mistake regarding the threat can use duress as a defence.
If duress is self-induced because D is a member of a violent gang and he should have reasonably foreseen the risk of compulsion by threats of violence, the defence is not available.
R v Cole
Threat of serious injury was made but no specific instruction about what to do was given.
