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Elements of a Crime
MENS REA
Aims and Objectives
• Actus non facit reum nisi mens sit rea – the act itself does not
constitute guilt unless done with a guilty mind.
• Intention
• Recklessness
• Negligence
Intention
• Direct intention
• the defendant wants a result and carries out an act to achieve
it.
• generally this is easier to prove based on the circumstances of
the crime.
• Indirect/Oblique intention
• the defendant doesn’t want the result that occurs but realises
that in acting as he does that there is a possibility that it will
happen.
Intention
• This type of intention has been built up through case law largely
based around the Criminal Justice Act 1967 s 8.
• Moloney (1985)
• Defendant and step-father were very drunk. They had
a race to see who could load a shotgun the fastest.
The defendant won. The step-father dared him to pull
the trigger and he did, thus killing his step-father. He
claimed he never intended to kill him.
and
Mens Rea
Intention
• Nedrick (1986)
• The defendant poured paraffin through a woman’s letterbox and
set it alight. A child died in the ensuing fire. The defendant was
originally convicted of murder but this was reduced to
manslaughter on appeal.
The judge tried to clarify the law in the two previous cases and
said that the jury needed to ask 2 questions:
• Woollin (1998)
• The Defendant threw his 3 month old baby towards the
pram which was by the wall. The baby suffered head
injuries and died.
Mens Rea
Intention