Criminal Law Series Part 2: Mens Rea and Actus Reus

Series Overview

• Presenter: Leon the Lawyer
• Series: 8 videos total
• Focus of Part 2: Two essential elements of criminal law: Mens Rea & Actus Reus

Key Concepts

Mens Rea (Mental Element)

• Definition: The mental state of the defendant; often referred to as "evil mind."

• Importance: Determines the degree of crime or whether a crime was committed.

• Types of Intent:

  • General Intent: Intending the act but not the result (e.g., bar fight leading to accidental death).
  • Specific Intent: Intending the act and its consequences (e.g., planning and committing a murder).
  • Constructive Intent: Result was not intended, but the act was likely to cause it (e.g., throwing an elderly goat with rocks into water).
  • Transferred Intent: Intent to harm one transfers to another unintended victim (e.g., goat survives, but puppies in its backpack drown).

• Crime Classifications:

  • Malum in Se: Inherently evil crimes (e.g., murder, rape).
  • Malum Prohibitum: Crimes because they're prohibited by law (e.g., tax evasion).

Actus Reus (Physical Element)

• Definition: The act itself; must be voluntary.
• Examples of Involuntary Acts: Reflexes, convulsions, acts during unconsciousness, or hypnosis.
• Possession as Actus Reus:
  • Actual Possession: Knowing control over something.
  • Constructive Possession: Awareness of control long enough to dispose of it.
• Omissions as Actus Reus: Failure to act where there's a legal duty (e.g., leaving an accident scene).

Mens Rea under Model Penal Code

• Purposeful: Intentional desire for the result.
• Knowing: Awareness of the act and its likely result.
• Reckless: Conscious disregard of substantial risk.
• Negligent: Failing to be aware of a substantial risk.

Proving Mens Rea

• Subjective Intent: The defendant’s actual intent.
• Objective Intent: Legal standard of what a reasonable person would know or believe.
• Inferences and Presumptions:
  • Inferences: Permissible conclusions based on evidence.
  • Presumptions (Rebuttable and Irrebuttable): Legal conclusions that must be made.

Legal Concepts

Strict Liability

• No requirement to prove the mental state; focuses solely on the act.

Vicarious Liability

• Responsibility for another's actions (e.g., employer for employee's actions).

Duty by Relationship & Contract

• Legal obligations imposed by relationships, contracts, or assumed duties.

Causation

• Factual Causation: The act leads directly to the result ("but for" test).
• Legal Causation: Act must be a foreseeable result of the defendant’s action.
• Intervening Causes: Events that occur after the initial act altering the outcome.

Concurrence

• The need for mens rea and actus reus to coincide; the mental state must prompt the act.