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capacity
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Lecture notes of 4 pages for the course Criminal Law at UoW (capacity)
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Capacity“Unless a man has the capacity and a fair opportunity or chance to adjust his behaviour to the law its penalties ought
not to be applied to him”
HLA Hart in Punishment and Responsibility (1968)
Interpretation
A person can only be convicted of a criminal offence if they have the capacity to be held responsible, meaning:
They have the ability to understand their actions
They have the ability to understand the consequences that flow from actions
They are capable of controlling their actions
Capacity can be affected by a number of factors, both internal and external
Legally, internal factors affecting capacity are categorised as:
Stemming from infancy
Insanity
External factors include:
Effect of intoxication
Automatism
Do you think that the following factors will affect an individual’s capacity?
Getting drunk to the point of memory loss and committing criminal damage
Having an epileptic seizure while driving and committing an offence
Failing to take medication, which causes an offence
Being administered a drug without knowledge, losing control, and going on to commit an offence
Children - incapacity due to infancy
S 50 Children and Young Persons Act 1933, as amended by s16(1) Children and Young Persons Act 1963
“It shall be conclusively presumed that no child under the age of ten years can be guilty of any offence”
Prior to amendment, the minimum age was eight (and was eight until recently in Scotland)
How do you feel about this? Do you think the age is too low/high?
A Typical 10 Year Old: Meet Amber (and her little brother)
Likes:
Watching movies
Swimming
Baking
Special Skills:
Street dance
Speaking Spanish
School level:
Can read and write
Is learning about fractions and percentages
Loves Horrible Histories
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