Mens Rea Flashcards
What is Mens Rea?
- ‘Guilty mind’
- Looks at D’s state of mind
What are the 4 things on the mens rea ladder?
- Intention
- Recklessness
- Negligence
- Strict liability
What is intention?
Based on what D in those circumstances thought, not what a reasonable person would think
What is direct intent?
The result is D’s aim/purpose
Case for direct intent
- Mohan 1975
- D drive his car straight at a police officer with the aim of injuring him
What is indirect (oblique) intent?
- The result isn’t D’s aim, yet they realise it is ‘virtually certain’ to occur as a result of their actions
- Jury not entitled to find indirect intention unless their sure the harm was a virtual certainty and the D appreciated that it was
Case for indirect intent
- Woollin 1998
- D threw his son across the room, argued that he had thrown it towards the pram but not intended to kill him
What is recklessness?
- Only considered when D does not have intention
- Must be shown that D is aware of a risk but deliberately takes it anyway
- If they did not appreciate the risk, they cannot be reckless
Case for recklessness
- Cunningham 1957
- D tore gas meter from a wall to steal money in the meter
- Gas escaped, seeped into an adjoining property poisoning the neighbour
- Since D didn’t realise this possibility, he wasn’t reckless
Definition of murder
The unlawful killing of a reasonable creature in being under the King’s Peace with malice aforethought, express or implied — Lord Coke 17th century
What is negligence?
- D fails to meet the standard of the reasonable person
- Objective
- Must be gross
What is a case for negligence?
- Adomako 1994
- Anaesthetist liable for gross negligence manslaughter when he took minutes to realise a breathing tube had become disconnected
What is strict liability?
- Exceptional category of crimes where no MR is required for some/all AR
- Liable even if D is completely blameless/took all necessary precautions
What is a case for strict liability?
- Callow v Tillstone 1900
- Butcher convicted of selling contaminated meat even though the butcher had taken reasonable care/was at no fault
What was Cundy v Le Cocq?
- 1884
- Strict liability
- D charged with selling alcohol to a drunk person (didn’t matter that he was unaware the person was drunk)
Harrow v Shah
- 1999
- Strict liability
- Newsagents sold lottery ticket to 13yr old even though they looked older
Owners at fault, despite telling employees not to sell to anyone underage
Which offences are strict liability?
- Act of Parliament makes it clear if mens rea is needed
- If it is clear mens rea is not required, offence will be of strict liability
- If there is no act of parliament/words are unclear, judges presume mens rea is required
Sweet v Parsley
- 1971
- Strict Liability
- D rented to students who, unknown to her, used it to smoke cannabis
- Court reiterated the general rule that MR is required to be guilty of a crime
B v DPP
- 2000
- 15yr old asked a 13yr to have oral sex, believing she was over 14
- Court quashed D’s conviction and said MR was needed for this serious offence
What is absolute liability?
- May be guilty even if AR was involuntary
- e.g Larsonneur 1933
What is transferred malice?
- D guilty if they intended to commit a crime against A but actually commits the same crime against B
- Malice is transferred to B
Case for transferred malice
- Latimer 1886
- D hit a man with a belt, which rebounded off him onto a woman’s face
- Malice transferred to the woman
Gnago
- 2011
- Passerby shot in a gang shootout
- D convinced of murder under the principle of transferred malice
Pembliton
- 1874
- D the stone at V, missed and smashed a window
- D not liable because MR couldn’t be transferred from a crime against a person to a crime against property
