Criminal Law: Actus Reus and Men's Rea in Homicide Cases

Criminal law

Contents
PART A...........................................................................................................................................1
PART B...........................................................................................................................................3
PART C...........................................................................................................................................5

PART A
Issue: In the present case situation, it has been analysed that Joe worked as personal trainer in
deadly lift gym. There he started training his ex-wife Cindy. They both just have separated their
ways, in spite of this fact Cindy decided she will get trained by Joe. Cindy left Joe for some other
man. Joe wanted her back, so he provided her with heavy lifting bar, so that his ex-wife could
fall down and he will come to rescue as a super hero. Joe was really slow and the lifting bar fall
down on Cindy’s neck an ambulance was called, but Cindy refused to take treatment. After some
time, Cindy died. In the other issue it was analysed that Karl and Alex was rivals and worked
together in deadly lift. They both met in their way Alex smiled at Karl. This was not liked by
Alex girlfriend Bella1. Bella took out a knife and Alex ran after Karl, Karl thought Alex would
kill him and because of this fear he got hit by a car. Karl refuse to get treatment. After some
time, Karl died2.
Rules: Most crimes consist of two broad elements: men’s rea and actus reus. Men’s rea
means to have "a guilty mind." The rationale behind the rule is that it is wrong for society to
punish those who innocently cause harm. Actus reus can be considered as guilty act, this is being
linked to crime. In this, the law has considered over act as a part of crime and in this the law has
taken into consideration the bad deeds to be punished and not the bad thoughts. In context with
criminal behaviour, actus reus and men’s rea needs to occur simultaneously. It has been analysed
that different crime takes into different intent into consideration. Therefore, it has been evaluated
that in order to prove larceny, prosecution must be involved in proving that defendant has an
intention to kill or has an intent to own possession on other person property3.
Negligent homicide means that person has an inattention towards some other individual
for duty of care. Like for example a drunk driver who accidently kills someone is been charged
with criminal negligent homicide. In this criminal law, specific and general intent are terms
which are used in order to define person condition of mind. In general intent, individual is been
engaged in doing something which is generally prohibited by law. In this prosecution does not
1 'The Four Types Of Mens Rea | Bruno Law Offices' (Tombruno.com, 2020)
<https://www.tombruno.com/articles/the-four-types-of-mens-rea/> accessed 14 December 2020.
2 'Mens Rea' (LII / Legal Information Institute, 2020) <https://www.law.cornell.edu/wex/mens_rea>
accessed 14 December 2020.
3 'English Criminal Law' (En.wikipedia.org, 2020) <https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/English_criminal_law>
accessed 14 December 2020.
1