Exploring Actus Reus and Mens Rea in Criminal Law: Key Principles Case Study

Criminal Liability in Violent Offences: The Role of Actus Reus and Mens Rea

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Introduction: Exploring Actus Reus and Mens Rea in Criminal Law: Key Principles

The report would focus on the legal aspects of the scenario that has taken place. In the scenario, there have been a group of friends who were out in a nightclub, Swan Sea when a person abruptly enters and performs unlawful and non-meaningful activities. An unknown person called Andre entered the club and unnecessarily disturbed Jaimie and then the doorman, Lucian. It becomes a haphazard event when initially Lucian died after the punch of Andre, and later on, Jaimie was stabbed by Andre. The report would highlight the criminal liability that has to be taken up by Andre. It will be intrinsically linked with the principles of actus reus and Mens rea principles. This would be further explained with examples of case laws and legislation.

Actus Reus and the offences

Actus Reus could be described as the omission act which means the elements in relation to physical activities that are intrinsically related to the statute as an element of a crime. It is inclusive of affirmative actions that are voluntary in nature. On the other hand, it could also be a failure to act or omission that has been a cause for criminal activity. As opined by Hajdin (2021), it is generally taken place when one doesn't carry out their legal obligations to perform a certain duty. This term "guilty act" is associated with act reus which is majorly connected to maintaining law and order. As stated by Khudaykulov (2022), crimes which have been related to physical assault or murder could be regarded as actus reus. Additionally, the disruption of public properties would make the situation even more problematic. It is truly recognised that the maxim of law could be attained only when there is a blend of actus reus as well as Mens rea. The former means guilty act and on the other hand, the guilty mind is associated with Mens rea.

Actus Reus is concerned with the offences such as assault, homicide, theft, and other major crimes that have been significant in showing the evidence of actions that have coherent with the failure of the act. As stated by Cross (2023), these factors ate the potential enough to demonstrate the conduct of an accused in recognised innocence or guilt. Such offences are in strict liability, in which the prosecution would require the acts to be committed. These are intended with knowledge and offences of causation. The defendants caused the acts to take place because of their acts of negligence performed by them.

Types of Act Rea Related Crimes Strict liability offences, in which the prosecution only needs to show that the act was committed, regardless of intent or knowledge, and causation offences, in which the prosecution must show that the defendant's actions resulted in the prohibited outcome. Such types of incidents have come into appearance when the situation was committed by Andre by disturbing Jaimie in the beginning. However, it was observed that the doorman, Lucian, performed his duty to intervene in the matter and asked Andre to leave the nightclub immediately.

Such types of cases are seen in different forms. One such is identified in the instances of R Vs Larkin, 1994. In this instance, the appellant killed his mistress when he actually intended to wave a razor against her lover. Such type of crime is related to psychological consequences, physical injury, social disconnections and others. As stated by Hussain et al. (2023), it is claimed by him that his mistress was drunk which made him look like an image of manslaughter. This was noticed when the defendant was considered killing someone but happened to do it on someone else. Jamie was killed intentionally in this provided scene to hide his mistakes. However, it was also wrong on the part of Jamie not to perform his General Duty to Act which could have saved him and the life of Lucian even before the incident would have taken place. This has taken a different

Mens Rea and the offences

Mens Rea is generally understood as a guilty mind which is concerned with an intention in a wrongful manner. As opined by Stasi, and Stasi (2021), Mens rea, or the mental component of a crime, is frequently broken down into the following four categories: intention, recklessness, negligence, and knowledge. These factors have been followed by Andre who has intentionally attempted to disregard the concerns of society. The degree of mens rea needed varies in accordance with the type of offence, with intentional offences requiring the highest level. Mens rea is the legal term for a person's intention or state of mind at the time of committing a crime. Different types of crimes call for varying degrees of mens rea, including strict liability crimes that call for no mens rea at all. One such example has been observed in the case of R Vs Woollin. This decision was in intentional alignment with the subject of mens rea. The instructions of the lower jury signified the substantial risk.

R v Church (1966) was one of the cases in which the defendant, Mr Church was regarded as manslaughter. He had tried to rouse the victim, but she underwent semi-consciousness. Later, it was seen that the victim was actually killed by drowning as her body was thrown into the river out of stress and panic moments. This shows that it is all about the mental mindset of people.

The court has come to the conclusion that in such types of cases, the death of the victim happened due to unlawful acts. According to Jonas (2021), it is applicable even in cases when the defendant themselves considered it as a risk but it somehow harmed the victims. This was explained through a classic example of R v Watson in which Harold Moyler, an eighty-seven years old man was injured due to the smashing of a window by Watson. However, the main reason behind his death was verbal clashes and conflicts which rendered the victim to suffer from massive heart attacks. The acts of Mens Rea play a significant role in understanding the aspects of intention. In the given scenario, the intention of Andre was initially to cause harm to the doorman just by punching, but he did not expect that he would lose his life due to the same. Thus, these particular instances would be considered under the circumstances of Mens Rea.

The act reus would not qualify even if it is done on an involuntary level. Such crimes are committed when someone is under hypnosis, unconscious or while in a night's sleep. As viewed by Simester (2021), these are also at times carried out during a time period of seizure. Nevertheless, Mens Rea could be useful in determining the intensity of a crime. It is also observed in some of the cases that the victim would tend to protect the defendant and the victim considering that they have been mentally unstable. The responsibility of the accused would be increased if they have gained consciousness and knowledge about their actions that they are guilty. Nonetheless, there is a lack of responsibility in cases when the criminal accused have not felt regret or does not want to know the significance.

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Conclusion

Act Rea could be regarded as the actual act of physical hurt for committing a crime. On the other hand, Mens Rea is known as the state of mental ability for taking an action for performing a crime. The scenario provided has caused harm on the basis of both factors. The main culprit, Andre began the instance by causing harm through minor acts of violence with Jamie. However, Jamie ignored the whole aspect but the doorman, Lucian did not. It caused the death of Lucian as Jamie had had the intention to merely cause physical harm (postulated as act reus) but unfortunately, the victim died. There have been ample such cases which have established the significance of mens rea as well as act reus. Some of the cases are R v Woollin (1999), R v Church (1965), R v Watson (1989), and many others. Consquently, these are helpful in understanding the significance of Act Reus and Mens Rea in knowing the aspects of criminal laws.

References

Cross, N., (2023). Criminal justice, actus reus and mens rea. Forensic Psychology, Crime and Policing: Key Concepts and Practical Debates , p.108.

Hajdin, NR, (2021). The actus reus of the crime of aggression. Leiden Journal of International Law, 34 (2), pp. 489-504.

Hussain, N., Khan, A., Chandio, L.A. and Oad, S., (2023). Individual Criminal Responsibility for the Crime of Aggression: The Role of the ICC's Leadership Clause. Pakistan Journal of Humanities and Social Sciences, 11(1), pp.223-232.

Jonas, L.A., (2021). Actus Reus and Mens Rea in International Criminal Law. In Individual Criminal Responsibility for the Financing of Entities involved in Core Crimes (pp. 40-48). Brill Nijhoff.

Khudaykulov, F.K., (2022). THE OBJECTIVE SIDE OF CRIME AND THE ACTUS REUS CONCEPT: COMPARATIVE-LEGAL ANALYSIS, PROBLEMS AND PROPOSALS. International Journal of Advance Scientific Research, 2(12), pp.100-115.

Simester, A., (2021). Fundamentals of criminal law: responsibility, culpability, and wrongdoing. Oxford University Press, USA.

Stasi, A. and Stasi, A., (2021). Actus Reus and Mens Rea. General Principles of Thai Criminal Law , pp. 25-30.