The Nature Of Crime

1
The Nature Of Crime

• Chapter 6

2
What Is A Crime?

• A crime is an act or omission of an act that is
  prohibited and punishable under federal statute.
• Four general conditions must exist for an act or
  omission to be considered a crime.
• The act is considered wrong by society.
• The act causes harm to society in general or to
  those who need protection.
• The harm must be serious!
• The remedy must be handled by the criminal
  justice system.
• Criminal Code

3
Criminal Law

• Criminal law refers to the body of laws that
  prohibit and punish acts that injure people,
  property and society as a whole.
• Three main purposes protect people and property,
  maintain order and preserve standards of public
  decency.
• The Criminal Code of Canada is a federal statute
  that contains the majority of the criminal laws
  passed by parliament. It lists, not only
  offences, but also the sentences to be imposed
  and the procedures to follow when trying those
  accused of crimes.
• Laws passed by provinces or municipalities are
  called quasi-criminal laws, laws covering less
  serious offences at the provincial or municipal
  level, most often punishable by fines.

4
Elements of a Crime

• To be convicted of a crime a person must have the
  Actus Reus and the Mens Rea.
• Actus Reus is Latin for the guilty act, and is
  the voluntary action, omission, or state of being
  that is forbidden by the criminal code.
• The action is the physical act involved in
  committing the offence, omission is failure to do
  something that is your legal duty to do and state
  of being refers to things such as being in
  possession of stolen property or found in a
  gaming house.

5

• Mens Rea is Latin for the guilty mind , where
  an accused person deliberately did something he
  or she knew to be wrong, with reckless disregard
  for the consequences.
• Mens Rea can be established by showing intent or
  knowledge.
• Intent means the accused meant to do something
  wrong, was reckless regarding the consequences
  and knew or should have foreseen the results.
  (key words, willfully or intentionally)
• General Intent means that a person commits a
  wrongful act for its own sake, with no other
  motive or purpose.
• Specific Intent applies when someone commits one
  wrongful act for the sake of doing another.
• Motive is the reason a person commits a crime,
  while intent refers to that persons state of
  mind
• 5 Minutes of Knowledge - Basic Criminal Law I
  YouTube
• Actus Reus Mens Rea Grade 11 Law (Criminal Law)
  - YouTube

6
A defence to manslaughter?

• The eggshell skull rule is a legal doctrine that
  says the wrongdoer takes the victim in the
  condition he/she finds him. There is no allowance
  for an already weakened state of the injured
  party. If a defendant negligently injures
  someone, the defendant is responsible for all the
  consequences, whether they were foreseeable or
  not.
• The rule is applied in tort and criminal cases
  involving a plaintiff in a vulnerable, weakened
  state or suffering from a medical condition.
• A rebuttal to the eggshell skull rule is the
  crumbling skull rule. This rule argues that the
  harm suffered by the victim was inevitable and
  the defendant's acts only had a minimal effect
  upon the already deteriorating circumstances.
• George Olivia Harrison Talk About 1999 Knife
  Attack YouTube
• CBS Evening News - on the Death of George
  Harrison, Nov. 2001 YouTube
• Did George Harrison getting stabbed multiple
  times speed up his death?

7
ATTEMPTED MURDER/SPECIFIC INTENT

• http//www.businessinsider.com/afp-ac/dc-drummer-a
  rrested-in-n.z.-on-murder-plot-reports-2014-11
• http//www.people.com/article/phil-rudd-strange-co
  urt-appearance-threatening-to-kill

8
General Intent

• In Criminal Law and Tort Law, a mental plan to do
  that which is forbidden by the law. Unlike
  offenses that require a Specific Intent, it is
  not necessary that the accused intend the precise
  harm or result. It is sufficient if the person
  meant to do the act that caused the harm or
  result. For example, Battery is a general intent
  offense. If a defendant commits a battery that
  results in harm to the victim, it does not matter
  if the defendant did not intend the harm.

9
Specific Intent

• Specific Intent applies when someone commits one
  wrongful act for the sake of doing another. The
  term specific intent is commonly used in criminal
  and Tort Law to designate a special state of mind
  that is required, along with a physical act, to
  constitute certain crimes or torts. Specific
  intent is usually interpreted to mean
  intentionally or knowingly.
• Larceny, for example, requires both the physical
  act of taking and carrying away the property of
  another and the mental element of intent to steal
  the property. Similarly Burglary requires
  breaking and entering into the dwelling of
  another with an intent to commit a
  felony/indictable offence therein.
• These crimes and others that require a
  specific-intent element are called
  specific-intent crimes and are distinguished from
  general-intent crimes. General-intent crimes
  require only a showing that the defendant
  intended to do the act prohibited by law, not
  that the defendant intended the precise harm or
  the precise result that occurred.

10

• Knowledge refers to an awareness of certain facts
  that can be used to establish Mens Rea. For
  example, knowing goods are stolen.
• Criminal Negligence can also be used to establish
  Mens Rea. A person is criminally negligence who
  in doing anything or omitting to do anything,
  shows wanton and reckless disregard for the lives
  and safety of others.
• Recklessness, consciously taking an unjustifiable
  risk that a reasonable person would not take, or
  Willful Blindness, deliberate closing of ones
  mind to the possible consequences of ones
  actions, could also be used to prove Mens Rea.

11
Strict and Absolute Liability

• Some regulatory laws, federal or provincial
  statutes meant to protect the public welfare, do
  not have to have Mens Rea established to win a
  conviction. (speeding)
• Liability, legal responsibility for a wrongful
  action, can be strict or absolute.
• Strict liability Offences offences that do not
  require Mens Rea but to which the accused can
  offer the defence of due diligence (the defence
  that the accused took every reasonable precaution
  to avoid committing a particular offence.)
• Absolute Liability Offences offences that do
  not require Mens Rea and to which the accused can
  offer no defence. (fines)

12
Parties To An Offence

• Perpetrator/The Accused the person who actually
  commits the crime.
• Aiding means helping a perpetrator commit a
  crime.
• Abetting encouraging the perpetrator of a crime
  without actually providing physical assistance.
• Counseling a crime that involves advising,
  recommending or persuading another person to
  commit a criminal offence.
• Accessory after the fact someone who knowingly
  receives, comforts or assists a perpetrator in
  escaping from police.
• http//www.cbc.ca/news/canada/nova-scotia/craig-la
  ndry-witness-in-murder-for-lobster-trial-says-he-w
  as-too-scared-to-object-1.2848879
• Parties to common intention the shared
  responsibility among criminals for any additional
  offences that are committed in the course of the
  crime they originally intended to commit.

13
Incomplete Crimes

• Attempt refers to the attempt to commit a crime,
  even when the crime is not completed. The guilty
  act begins when mere preparation turns into
  action. (carrying break in tools) The intent is
  the obvious steps taken to commit the crime.
• Conspiracy is an agreement between two or more
  people to carry out an illegal act, even if that
  act does not actually occur.

14
Homework

• Question 12, page 158
• R. v. Hackett, questions 1 and 2, page159
• R. v. Vang, questions 1-3, page 159