Criminal Liability

556 Words2 Pages

Criminal Liability “In a just society criminal liability should never be imposed without

some degree of blameworthiness”

Offences of strict liability are those, which do not require any mens

rea with regards to at least one or more of the actus rea. The mens

rea usually requires intention and or recklessness.

However some crimes are possible to commit without any knowledge,

intention or responsibility on behalf of the defendant. Therefore the

primary issue is should these defendants be guilty and held liable for

these crimes under strict liability.

In Gammon (Hong Kong) ltd v Attorney General (Hong Kong) 1984, the

grounds on which strict liability can be imposed were brought about;

As a general rule, the more serious the criminal offence created by

statute, the less likely the courts are to view it as an offence of

strict liability. For acts, which are truly criminal mens rea should

be needed in order to make the defendant liable and this is the case

in law, however the type of offence where men rea is not necessary and

one can be liable is when the statute is concerned with an issue of

social concern.

This principle was outlined in Sweet v Parsley 1970; the defendant was

convicted under s5 of the Dangerous Drugs Act 1965, of "being

concerned in the management of premises used for the smoking of

cannabis". She appealed alleging that she had no knowledge of the

circumstances and indeed could not expect reasonably to have had such

knowledge. The House of Lords, quashing her conviction, held that it

had to be proved that the defenda...

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...he offence that took place.

I believe that that this is a delicate area for judges and that each

case should be reviewed in isolation and judges should have the right

for discretion. Each case will have different facts and diverse levels

of responsibility and so one rule cannot be made for all strict

liability cases. Strict liability should not be overruled entirely,

however should be reviewed by the law commission in order to prevent

those with no control over an offence and without the means to prevent

it being accountable for the crime. In a just society people should

not be sentenced just to make a point for the general public or for

the single reason that a judge feels someone should be held

responsible and the defendant is the only reasonable person to charge,

as this is not reasonable ground to charge someone.

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