Critically evaluate the law on intention as part of mens rea

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Critically evaluate the law on intention as part of mens rea

By Rebecca Haworth

The mens rea is the Latin for guilty mind and refers to the state of mind of the accused at the time the actus reus is committed. Intention is a subjective concept; what the actual defendant was thinking at the time of the offence as opposed to objective which is what a reasonable person would have thought in the same position. Intention is the highest form of mens rea and an example of this is in the case of theft. The mens rea of theft is intention to deprive someone of property permanently. Without the intent to take the property the defendant is not guilty of the crime. This is shown in the case of Madeley where he was able to show that he was suffering from stress and merely forgot to pay for the goods and he was found not guilty.  

 It is important to distinguish the intent from the motive of the crime as shown in the case of R v Gray where a father smothered his son to death. The motive of his actions was that his son was in agony and dying from an illness, however this is not relevant to the mens rea. His intention to kill his son on the other hand is relevant to the mens rea and made him guilty of murder.

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Intention can be oblique or direct. Direct intent is where the defendant actually desires the consequences of their actions. Oblique intention gives the concept of intent a wider meaning; the consequence wasn’t the defendant’s aim but was ‘virtually certain’ to occur as a result of their actions. The issue of intent has been problematic and there has been a long list of cases on this as a consequence. The law on oblique intent stared in section 8 of the Criminal Justice Act 1867 which states that a court of jury ‘shall not be bound by law to infer that a ...

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