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Elements of an Offence
For an offence to be committed all 3 offence elements must be present:
Actus Reus
Mens Rea
Lack of a defence
Actus Reus
The actus reus is the criminal action that forms part of the offence. for example for the offence of batter the actus reus is inflicting unlawful force
Mens Rea
The mens rea is the criminal mindset.. There are 3 types of mens rea:
Intention
Recklessness
Negligence
There are also offences where no mens rea is required. these are called offences of strict liability
Different type of Mens Rea Requirements for Offences
Specific intent
The crime will only be committed if a suspect intends to commit the offence
Basic intent
The crime will only be committed if a suspect intends, is reckless or negligence towards committing an offense
Strict Liabililty
no mens reas is required for the offence the action alone is enough
Charge Stacking
There will often be occasions where a suspect will commit multiple offences that are of a similar nature for example a suspect might make off from the police and while making off drive both carelessly and dangerously. In these instances only the most serious crime should be charged, so for this example failure to stop and dangerous driving.
If a suspect commits similar crimes against different victims then multiple charges can be brought. for example:
A suspect shoots one police officer, before kinking them multiple time and then punches a second officer in the face. The suspect may be charged with Section 18 Causing grievous bodily harm with intent and Causing actual bodily harm.
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