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.
...as charged for selling to an police officer while on duty. The clerk had no idea that the police officer was still on duty because the officer had taken off his arm-band. The author stated, the offense of strict liability is not intentionally. Which is true how can someone be held accountable for other people actions if they had no idea what is going on. People are not mind readers and people should be held accountable for their own actions.
The refinement of this definition has significant legal implications, as it broadens the scope of those who can sue within blameless accidents. Prior to this, such victims would also face being labelled with “fault”. Supporting the findings of Axiak, by establishing non-tortious conduct as separate from “fault”, similar, future cases are more likely to proceed despite the plaintiff’s contributory
A police officer, Colin Allcars (Allcars), is suing Harry’s Ammo World (HAW) for his medical expenses, personal injuries, pain and suffering. HAW sold a rifle to Dakota D. West without checking West’s background for felonies or drug use. Federal law prevents the sale of firearms to anyone with a felony or to anyone that uses illegal drugs. Dakota had been convicted of a felony and was also a user of marijuana. Two months after the sale Dakota’s brother took the rifle and took hostages. When the police were trying to subdue and arrest Dakota’s brother he shot and wounded Colin AllCars. Allcars is suing HAW on the grounds of negligence.
The statute of limitation refers to the length of time in which a plaintiff can file a claim. The principle behind statute of limitation is that lawsuits cannot be improved as time passes by. For one, clear details of the facts can be blurred as memories can fade and witnesses may die, go away, or lose interest of the case. Ideally, court prefers to settle the case as soon as disputes develop (Warner, 2010). However, for professional and product liabilities, with injuries may take time to manifest, many courts adapted different rules such as postponing the running of the statute until the injury has been reasonably discovered. The length of time differs among states and branches of law (Danzon, 1985). The long and deferred statutes of limitations lead to long tail of claims and contributed majority of medical malpractice and product liability (Danzon, 1985). In this section, statutes of limitations for medical malpractice in two states are compared.
The TV show, Law and Order: Special Victims Unit, often addresses criminal deviance such as rape and murder. In the episode, “Scorched Earth,” an African immigrant maid becomes a rape victim of a rich, Italian prime minister named Distascio (Wolf). This episode highlights how status can affect perception of certain deviant behaviors. Additionally, it addresses contemporary America’s values toward types of deviant acts, and sanctions that go along with them.
1. What is the definition of an "ex post facto" law and why are they unfair? Ex post facto is a law that retroactively changes the lawful results of activities that were conferred, or connections that existed, before the authorization of the law. It is out of line since it might criminalize activities that were lawful when perpetrated; it might exasperate a wrongdoing by bringing it into a more extreme class than it was in when it was carried out; it might change the discipline recommended for a wrongdoing, as by including new punishments or broadening sentences; or it might modify the tenets of confirmation so as to make conviction for a wrongdoing likelier than it would have been the point at which the deed was carried out.
wards of the hospitals-- all this with her money! Kill her, take her money, dedicate
Guilt in Crime and Punishment In Crime and Punishment, Fyodor Dostoyevsky tells the story of a young man who has been forced out of his studies at a university, by poverty. In these circumstances, he develops his theory of an extraordinary man (Frank 62). This conjecture is composed of the idea that all great men must climb over obstacles in their way to reach their highest potential and benefit humankind. In Raskolnikov's life, the great obstacle is his lack of money, and the way to get over this obstacle is to kill a pawnbroker that he knows.
Society has many different views on crime and punishment. During earlier times, the crime fit the punishment meaning an “eye for an eye” approach. If a thief was caught, their hands would be cut off. If a man killed another man, they would be killed as well. They did not have a chance to tell their side of the story, if people thought they were guilty, they were. Much has changed in the way we handle crime in the world today. In today’s world, when a person commits a crime they have rights to a fair trial and have the luxury of the Fifth Amendment. Now when a killer kills someone they get to tell their side of the story and have to be proven guilty. However, it does not matter where you go, if there are people then there will always be crime.
Explain sentencing and the theories behind it. Include the sentencing models and how they are supposed to work.
Also, the tort victim is usually sufficiently compensated through insurance rather than if they claimed against the employee as the master has the ‘deepest pocket’[2]. However, recent developments in the law on vicarious liability not only makes the employer liable for acts that are ‘directly’ connected with what they are employed to do, but it is now established that an employer may be liable for the unauthorised acts of an employee, where those acts are ‘closely connected’ with the nature of the wrongdoer’s employment. The principle of vicarious liability can also burden the operation of a business by placing a disproportionate amount of responsibility on an employer. More money needs to be spent on training, employee’s characteristics need to be assessed and higher costs will be passed on to the consumer.
A defence in criminal law arises when conditions exist to negate specific elements of the crime: the actus reus when actions are involuntary, the mens rea when the defendant is unaware of the significance of their conduct, or both. These defences will mitigate or eliminate liability from a criminal offence. Insanity, automatism and diminished responsibility are examples of said defences. They each share characteristics but can be distinguished in their scope and application.
A famous line from the movie The Usual Suspects goes “The greatest trick the devil ever pulled was convincing the world he didn’t exist”. This is exactly what Dostoevsky does in his most famous novel Crime and Punishment. Throughout the novel references to God and forgiveness abound. There is a much darker side to what Dostoevsky writes though. If you have God working in your life unfortunately you also have the devil working in your life, and this is what happens to the main character of the book, Raskolnikov. He is given many chances to do the right thing and not sin, yet the devil still provides even more temptations, and gets Raskolnikov to fall into the trap of murder. Yet God does still give you chances for forgiveness and wants you to reject your sin. The devil works in any way he can to get men to sin, but God will send a way to get you to forgive your sins and come back to him and leave the devil’s ways, and that was Dostoevsky’s main point of Crime and Punishment.
Torts can be divided into two main categories; negligence and intentional torts. Negligence torts function as the hallmark of tort liability, and of tort law suits, are the most common. Under this legal premise, people have the responsibility to act with proper diligence and reasonable care and skill to avoid injuring other people. Intentional torts are civil wrongs that were committed deliberately. In contrast to a negligence act that is usually an accident caused by the lack of responsible care. Under tort law, intentional torts include acts of assault, battery, slander and libel, false imprisonment, and intentional infliction of emotional distress.
History in itself is how determine the path that we have taken to arrive at a certain point. Knowing is only half of the equation, we must use that information to develop and improve, so that we can take a better path in the future. In the field of law, this is especially important. Specifically in the Criminal Justice System, history is a roadmap that is mainly used a way to examine the cause and effect relationship between policies, laws, and society.