INTRODUCTION TO INTOXICATION

⇒ Intoxication can be relevant in a criminal case in three ways:

1) The defendant may for some crimes seek to rely on his intoxication as evidence he lacked mens rea.

2) The prosecution may in some crimes seek to rely on the defendant’s intoxication to establish the defendant’s mens rea.
3) There are certain crimes that specifically refer to being intoxicated. For example, it is an offence to drive a vehicle while under the influence of drink or drugs (Road Traffic Act 1988, s4(2)).

VOLUNTARY AND INVOLUNTARY INTOXICATION

⇒ Voluntary intoxication is self-induced intoxication. Involuntary intoxication is intoxication caused by by someone or something else (e.g. where your drink is spiked).

⇒ Alcohol and illegal drugs:

Where someone voluntarily takes alcohol or illegal drugs - even if that person thinks the alcohol/drugs will have little effect on them - they are said to be voluntarily intoxicated. See, for example, the case of R v Allen [1988].If the defendant thought he was drinking a non alcoholic drink but it had been spiked then that would be involuntarily intoxication.Where someone is addicted to drugs/alcohol they are said to be voluntarily intoxicated.

⇒ Legal Substances:

The defendant is voluntarily intoxicated if he/she is aware of the effects of taking the legal substance.The defendant is voluntarily intoxicated if prescribed medicine is not taken how it should be. See the case of R v Hardie [1985].

SUMMARY OF CRIMINAL KNOWLEDGE AND BELIEF

⇒ For some offences it must be shown that the defendant did an act knowing or believing that a certain state of affairs existed.

⇒ It should be noted that in cases where the mens rea is knowledge, careful consideration should be given to which aspects of the actus reus need to be known.

For example, the offence of handling stolen goods requires proof that the defendant knew or believed that the goods were stolen.

⇒ The difference between knowledge and belief appears simply to be based on whether the facts known or believed turned to to be true: if they were true then the defendant knew them to be true, if they were false the defendant believed them to be true.