AS Law - Mens Rea

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  • Created by: Sarah
  • Created on: 05-02-11 13:46

Mens rea literally translates as guilty mind; it is the mental elements of the crime. The mens rea of murder is the intention to cause GBH or death. There are two approaches that determine the mens rea: intention and recklessness

 

Intention can be direct, where D takes the decision to bring about the criminal consequence; this means that the consequence is D’s aim. An example of this is R v Mohan where D was signalled by the police to stop, but drove off after breaking with the intention of causing bodily harm by wanton driving at the police car. It can also be indirect (also known as oblique) where the court/jury can infer intention because the consequence was a virtually certain result and D knows that it was a virtually certain result. This was confirmed in Matthews and Alleyne where they pushed their victim off a bridge into a river, knowing he could not swim; as they watched him head for the bank, they did not stay to see if he succeeded in getting…

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Ameenah

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where is the explanation on contemporaneity rule?