Omission is the failure to act, where there is a duty to act imposed by law and a defendant is in breach of that duty

an offence is committed (commission by omission or breach of duty to act). Duty to act can be implied where the accused failed to act and a prohibited result occurred. The Law Commission in its Draft Criminal Code Bill (Law Com No. 177) clause 17(1) states that ..a person causes a result .when .. he omits to do an act which might prevent its occurrence and which he is under a duty to do according to the Law relating to the offence The analysis of offences can be broken into conduct crimes and result crimes is useful when examining liability for omissions. G. P. Fletcher in Rethinking Criminal Law (1978) distinguishes two forms of liability for omissions which are duty to act where liability is imposed based on a breach of statutory obligation to act, this relates to conduct crimes where there is no requirement for the occurrence to harm to be proved. The second form commission by omission where liability is imposed for failing to intervene when necessary to prevent the occurrence of a serious harm such as death or the destruction of property. Breach of duty to act There are various statutes imposed on individuals in specified circumstances making any individual that finds themselves in that specified circumstance and fails to perform that duty will be committing an offence for example a motorist who fails to give a breath sample when asked by a police officer will be committing an offence under s. 6 of the Road Traffic Act 1988.