Duress of circumstances Flashcards
What is duress of circumstance
Where the defendant feels compelled to act illegal to get themselves away from danger
R v Willer
D drove on the pavement to get away from gang surrounding his car.
Went to police station immediately after
Charged with reckless driving
Appeal - conviction quashed
R v Conway
Passenger in Ds car was shot prior, saw two men running towards the car and the passenger believed this to be the men of shot him and yelled at D to drive
- D drove quickly away and was charged for reckless driving
CofA ruled that duress of circumstances is allowed where the defendant is acting to avoid a threat of death or serious injury
R v Pommell
The defence of duress of circumstances is available for all offences EXCEPT murder, attempted murder and treason
Evaluation point - unavailable for murder
Expectation for people to be heroes and sacrifice their own lives in protection of another. Is this morally correct - what if the one being threaten was a mother who was a doctor and the persons life being threaten was a murderer
- What happens when a persons children are threatened, is it right for them to still be expected to save the life of another stranger
Evaluation point - R v Wilson (Duress of threats)
D was told to kill his mother by his father and if not he would be harmed, he injured his mother but didn’t kill her yet the defence was not available. NO consideration of him being a 13 year old boy
Evaluation point- IQ
not avaliable for those with low IQ’s as seen in R v Bowen - harsh
Very low IQ means the defendant isn’t capable of truly understanding the nature of the threats
evaluation point - police protection
Appreciation that police protection is not always effective as seen R v Hudson and Taylor. Due to them being scared of what may happen as a result. However this has been question after the ruling of Hasan - therefore leading to ambiguity as to whether the defence is still available where the person threatened didn’t contact the police
Reform
Law commission proposed in report that the defence should be made available for all offences (including murder and attempted murder) - however is yet to be acted upon
