Criminal Law

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Criminal Law
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• Crime an act or omission of an act
• (failure to act) that is prohibited and
  punishable by federal law
• Criminal law the body of laws that prohibit and
  punish acts that injure people, property and
  society as a whole

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Purposes of Criminal Law

• to protect people and property
• Maintain order and preserve standards
• to discourage potential offenders
• to punish / rehabilitate

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What is crime?

• Depends on the morals and values of society
• Law Reform Commission says to be a crime
• 1. The act must be considered wrong
• 2. The act causes harm to society or to those who
  need protection
• 3. The harm must be serious
• 4. The remedy must be dealt with by the criminal
  justice system

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Possible Causes of Crime

• poverty
• disregard for others rights and property
• drug use
• insanity
• anger
• revenge

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Jurisdiction for Criminal Law

• Federal - The federal govt has jurisdiction over
  criminal law so all provinces have uniform
  criminal law.
• Laws passed by provinces or municipalities are
  called quasi-criminal eg. Motor Vehicle Act
• Federal govt makes and revises criminal law, but
  fed and prov govts share administration of
  criminal law.

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Federal statutes

• Federal statutes in which crimes and criminal
  procedures are found
• Criminal Code ( 1892)
• Youth Criminal Justice Act
• Controlled Drugs and Substances Act
• Food and Drugs Act
• Income Tax Act
• Customs Act

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Why might Parliament decide to make certain
actions criminal?

• Interest groups oppose existing laws
• changing values of society
• (anti-drug laws, gun laws, drunk-driving laws,
  capital punishment, abortion laws)

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Types of Offences

• 1. Summary conviction offences - minor offences
  max. 2000 ,6 mos.
• 2. Indictable offences - serious crimes, can be
  life imprisonment
• 3. Hybrid offences - Crown chooses whether to
  proceed as a summary or indictable offence

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Essential Elements of a Crime

• Actus reus mens rea Crime
• To convict a person of a criminal offence, the
  Crown must usually prove that these 2 elements
  existed at the time of the offence

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Actus Reus

• guilty act or deed
• the voluntarily action, omission - i.e. failure
  to act or state of being
• For example
• Action- assault
• Omission- not stopping at an accident
• State of being- being in possession of stolen
  goods

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Mens Rea

• guilty mind
• A deliberate intention to commit a wrongful act,
  with reckless disregard for the consequences
• includes intent ( desire to carry out the action,
  can foresee the results)
• Intent is not motive. Motive is the
  reason person commits a crime
• or knowledge ( an awareness of certain facts)

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• or willful blindness ( a deliberate closing of
  ones mind to the possible consequences of ones
  actions)
• or recklessness ( taking an unjustifiable risk
  that a reasonable person would not take)
• or criminal negligence ( reckless disregard for
  the safety of others, sometimes causing serious
  injury or death)

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General and Specific Intent

• General intent- the desire to commit a wrongful
  act, with no other motive or purpose ( assault)
• Specific intent- the desire to commit one
  wrongful act for the sake of doing another (
  assault / theft)

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Strict and Absolute Liability

• Liability- legal responsibility for a wrongful
  action
• Strict liablity offences- offences that do not
  require mens rea, but accused can use defence of
  due diligence
• Due dilgence- accused took every reasonable
  precaution to avoid committing the offence
• Absolute liability offences that do not require
  mens rea and accused can offer no defence