SITUATIONAL OFFENCES

⇒ Similar to omission offences, a person can also be guilty if he/she is found to be in a particular situation. For example, drink driving and possession of drugs are situational offences.

⇒ Situational offences usually involve a voluntary act. For example, possessing drugs would involve either buying or making the drugs and putting them into your bag/pocket.

LIABILITY FOR THE ACTS OF OTHER PEOPLE

⇒ It may be the case that someone could be held criminally liable for someone else’s acts.

⇒ For example, vicarious liability means that an employer may be criminally responsible for the acts of their employees.

Mens Rea
⇒ This is the mental element of a crime. Different crimes have different mens rea.

⇒ The standard common law test of criminal liability is expressed in the Latin phrase actus reus non facit reum nisi mens sit rea, i.e. "the act is not culpable unless the mind is guilty"

⇒ As a general rule, someone who acted without mental fault is not liable in criminal law. Exceptions are known as strict liability crimes.

⇒ There are different kinds of mens rea, including intention, recklessness, negligence, and knowledge. However, it should be noted that these are not the only kinds of mens rea e.g. dishonesty is the mens rea of certain offences.

⇒ As a general rule, intention is seen as the worst kind of mens rea, recklessness the second worst, and negligence the least serious.

WHAT DOES INTENTION MEAN?

⇒ The general rule is that intention should be given its ordinary meaning.

⇒ In R v Hales [2005] the Court of Appeal said that only in rare cases will the judge need to give further directions to the jury on intention.

⇒ The ordinary meaning of intention: it is widely accepted that the defendant intends a consequence of his action if he acts with the aim or purpose of producing that consequence.

⇒ The jury must be persuaded beyond reasonable doubt that the defendant intended the result.

INTRODUCTION TO RECKLESSNESS

⇒ In general terms, being reckless refers to the taking of an unjustified risk.

⇒ There has been difficulty in determining what recklessness meant → at one stage there were two definitions of recklessness, known as Cunningham recklessness and Caldwell recklessness. However, the House of Lords has abolished Caldwell recklessness and so there is now only one kind of recklessness used.

NEGLIGENCE

⇒ Sometimes the mens rea of a crime is negligence. However, it should be noted that negligence plays a minor role in criminal liability: it used to form the basis of some driving offences but this has largely been superseded by recklessness.

⇒ Negligence uses an objective test: 'did the defendant behave in a way which was reasonable in the circumstances?' If the defendant behaves in the way in which a reasonable person would not then he/she is negligent.

The objective test is strictly applied (McCrone v. Riding [1938] 1 All ER 137).

GROSS NEGLIGENCE

⇒ The main role for negligence in criminal law is with regards to gross negligence manslaughter.

⇒ Gross negligence essentially means really bad negligence. It must be shown that the defendant killed negligently and that this negligence was so bad as to justify a criminal conviction. See, for example, the case of R v Adomako [1994] 3 WLR 288.

⇒ You can also see the topic notes on Gross Negligence Manslaughter here.