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Criminal Law
but also to a community, society or the
®
UOLLB First Class Law Notes state.
Objectives of Criminal Law
Retribution – criminals ought to suffer in
Criminal Law some way.
Deterrence – individual deterrence is
aimed toward the specific offender.
Table of Contents Incapacitation – to keep criminals away
1. Introduction ................................................. 1 from society in order to protect the public.
2. Criminal Liability........................................ 3 Rehabilitation – aims at transforming an
offender into a valuable member of society.
3. Strict Liability Crimes................................. 5 Restoration – to repair any injury inflicted
4. Actus Reus .................................................. 6 upon the victim by the offender.
5. Causation..................................................... 8
American Model Penal Code
6. Mens Rea .................................................. 10 To forbid and prevent conduct that
7. Concurrence .............................................. 16 unjustifiably and inexcusably inflicts or
8. Murder....................................................... 17 threatens substantial harm to individual or
public interests.
9. Voluntary Manslaughter ............................ 19 To subject to public control persons whose
10. Involuntary Manslaughter ....................... 21 conduct indicates that they are disposed to
11. Rape ........................................................ 23 commit crimes.
To safeguard conduct that is without fault
12. Non-fatal Offences .................................. 27 from condemnation as criminal.
13. Failure of Proof ....................................... 29 To give fair warning of the nature of the
14. Affirmative Defences .............................. 33 conduct declared to be an offence.
To differentiate on reasonable grounds
15. Theft ........................................................ 37 between serious and minor offences.
16. Fraud ....................................................... 44
17. Criminal Damage .................................... 46 Elements of Crime
Actus Reus – guilty act (conduct)
18. Criminal Attempts ................................... 48 Mens Rea – guilty mind (intent)
19. Inchoate Crime ........................................ 49 Concurrence – actus reus and mens rea
20. Secondary Liability ................................. 51 must occur at the same time
Causation – the guilty act must result in
21. Joint Enterprise ....................................... 55 actual harm
Copyright © 2024 UOLLB. All rights reserved. Types of Offences
No part of this publication may be reproduced, Crimes against the person, e.g. assault,
stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted in battery, false imprisonment, harassment,
any form or by any means, without the prior intimidation, manslaughter, murder.
written permission of the publisher. Sexual offences, e.g. incest, obscenity,
rape, sexual assault.
1. Introduction Crimes against property, e.g. arson,
burglary, criminal damage, fraud, robbery,
Definition of Crime theft.
A crime is an act (something done) or Crimes against justice, e.g. perjury,
omission (something not done) that is perverting the course of justice.
against the law and punishable upon Crimes against the public, e.g. terrorism,
conviction. riot, obstruction of highways.
Something is a crime if declared as such by Crimes against animals, e.g. animal fight,
statute or by common law. cruelty to animals.
It is harmful not only to some individual
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Criminal Law
Crimes against the state, e.g. treason, serious charge. Undercharge is easier to
espionage. prove and may encourage a guilty plea. The
Participatory offences, e.g. accomplice, prosecution of summary trial is less costly
joint enterprise, inchoate offence. and more efficient because it may enable
the case to be heard summarily rather than
Summary Trial on indictment. However, it may lead to a
It takes place in a magistrates’ court. situation where a suspect faces inadequate
It is a quicker and less expensive legal consequences for his actions,
alternative to a full trial. potentially resulting in an unjust outcome
It works best when the defendant agrees on and undermining public confidence in the
the facts but disagrees on what the result criminal justice system.
should be based on those facts. Overcharging – it refers to a situation
Evidence is provided to the judge in the where the prosecutor charges a suspect with
form of affidavit which is a written a criminal offence that is more serious or
statement sworn to be true from an carries a higher penalty than the crime he
individual. has allegedly committed. It happens mostly
The judge will review the affidavits and because the prosecutor misinterprets the
will make a final order based on the evidence or wants to exert pressure on the
information. suspect. Facing the prospect of severe
charges, the suspect may be more inclined
Trial on Indictment to negotiate a plea bargain for lesser
It takes place in the Crown Court. charges, even if he believes he is innocent.
The defendant is tried before a judge and a Overcharging can be problematic because it
jury. can lead to inflated penalties, wrongful
An indictment is the formal document convictions, undermining public
outlining a specified indictable offence. confidence in the criminal justice system.
It is more time-consuming and expensive, Defendants may be unfairly punished for
so it is reserved for more serious crimes. crimes they did not commit or for actions
that do not merit such severe consequences.
Triable Either Way
It is a trial of summary or indictable Roles of Judge
offences. He is the trier of law, interpreting and
A criminal offence that can be heard in a applying the law.
magistrates’ court or the Crown Court. He preside over the trial and maintains
If the magistrates decide their sentencing order in the courtroom.
powers are sufficient to deal with the He provides instructions to the jury
offence, the defendant may elect to have it regarding the applicable law and legal
dealt with summarily in the magistrates’ standards.
court or on indictment (trial by jury) in the He decides what evidence can be admitted
Crown Court. and presented to the jury.
If the defendant is found guilty, he is
Charge responsible for imposing a sentence.
It is a formal allegation made by the
prosecution against a person accused of Roles of Jury
having committed a specific criminal The jury is a group of jurors who take up
offence. the role of fact finders (i.e. triers of fact).
Undercharging – it refers to a situation They listen to the evidence presented in
where the prosecutor charges a suspect with court by the prosecution and the defence.
a criminal offence that is less severe or They determine whether the defendant is
carries a lower penalty than the crime he guilty or innocent based on the evidence.
has allegedly committed. It happens mostly After the trial, they retire to deliberate in
because the prosecutor does not have private to reach a verdict.
sufficient evidence to support a more Deliberation involves discussions, analysis
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Criminal Law
of the evidence, and consideration of legal precisely defined by statute.
instructions provided by the judge. However, neither the Law Commission nor
They are expected to remain impartial, the UK Parliament have completed the
unbiased, and free from any preconceived necessary revisions of the law, so some
notions or biases that could affect their common law offences still exist.
judgment. In England and Wales, unless a specific
maximum sentence has been codified,
Jury Direction common law offences are punishable by
The judge will guide the jury on what unlimited fines and unlimited
evidence is admissible. imprisonment
The judge will sum up and review the facts
for the jury. Principles of Criminal Law
The judge will tell the jury that the standard Principle of minimal criminalisation –
of proof is beyond reasonable doubt and the Conduct should be criminalised only when
burden of proof is at all times on the absolutely necessary. Only offences that are
prosecution unless it is reversed. seriously enough should be criminalised,
The judge will then explain to the jury what rather than trivial ones.
the law is and the facts they have to find to Principle of proportionality – punishment
sustain a conviction. for a given crime should be proportional to
and reflect the seriousness of the crime.
Appeal Principle of fair labelling – the description
If the judge makes a mistake in directing of the offence should match the
the jury or applies the wrong law or wrongdoing and reflect distinctions in the
principle, this can be appealed on the nature and seriousness of the crime.
ground of misdirection. Principle of certainty – the law must be
Appeals from the Crown Court are heard clear, precise and unambiguous so that its
by the Court of Appeal (criminal division). legal implications can be foreseeable.
Appeals from the Court of Appeal are heard Presumption of innocence – every
by the Supreme Court. defendant is presumed innocent until
proven guilty by the prosecution beyond a
Sources of Criminal Law reasonable doubt.
Criminal law derives from traditional Double jeopardy – a person should not be
common law of crimes, so it was once tried twice for the same offence after being
judge-made law, known as common law acquitted or convicted.
offences.
However, the majority of criminal offences 2. Criminal Liability
have now been codified in statute as
statutory offences. Elements of Crime
Those that were not codified in statute have Mens Rea – it is the mental element of a
largely been abolished but some of them person’s intention to commit a crime (i.e.
are still effective. guilty mind, criminal intent).
Actus Reus – it is the external element of a
Codification of Criminal Offences person’s unlawful conduct or omission of
Common law offences were seen as an act (i.e. guilty act, criminal act).
unacceptably vague and open to Concurrence – mens rea and actus reus
development by the courts in ways that must occur simultaneously to constitute a
might create certainty. crime, except for crimes of strict liability
The Law Commission is an independent where only actus reus is enough to impute
body set up by Parliament to keep the law guilt.
under review and to recommend reforms. Causation – the actus reus must
Its codification of criminal law aims to proximately cause actual harm, except for
abolish all the remaining common law inchoate offense where the criminal attempt
offences and replacing them with offences is not complete but actual harm would be
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Criminal Law
resulted upon completion. Insanity – a deranged state of mind that
makes the defendant unable to understand
Criminal Liability what he was doing.
There must be a criminal act or omission Automatism – a state where the muscles
for the imposition of criminal liability to act without any control by the mind, or
the actor. with a lack of consciousness.
If the law imposes a duty to act, a failure to Intoxication – substance intoxication
do so will result in criminal liability (i.e. leading to diminished responsibility.
criminal omission). Mistake of fact – a misunderstanding of
The most important element for a crime is some fact that negates the mental element
actus reus, without which no criminal of the crime.
liability can be imposed because there will Duress – involuntary criminal conduct due
not be concurrence and causation. to the circumstances or threats of another.
Only mens rea can never constitute a crime, Necessity – necessary conduct to prevent
as a person cannot be held liable for just some greater harm.
thinking about committing a crime. Provocation – it is a mitigating factor in
sentencing that the defendant was incited to
Blameworthy States of Mind act.
Direct intention – the actor has a clear Self-defence – use of reasonable force to
foresight of the consequences of his defend one’s own life or the lives of others.
actions, and desires those consequences to Defence of property – use of reasonable
occur. It is his aim, purpose or intent to force to protect one’s own property.
achieve this consequence, e.g. murder. Consent – when the victim voluntarily
Oblique intention – it is the indirect intent agrees to the proposal or desires of another.
of the virtually certain consequence of the Entrapment – a law enforcement agent
defendant’s actions, and that the defendant induces a person to commit a crime that he
appreciates that such was the case. would have otherwise been unlikely or
Knowledge – the actor knows, or should unwilling to commit. It is not a criminal
know, that the results of his conduct are defence in itself but an abuse of the process
reasonably certain to occur. of the court for state agents to lure a person
Recklessness – the actor foresees that into committing an illegal act and then seek
particular consequences may occur and to prosecute him for doing so. In this case,
proceeds with the given conduct, not caring there is good reason to question the
whether those consequences actually occur credibility of the evidence and argue that
or not. the case should not be brought at all.
Criminal negligence / carelessness – the
actor did not actually foresee that the Burden of Proof
particular consequences would flow from A person is considered innocent until
his actions, but a reasonable person, in the proven guilty.
same circumstances, would have foreseen The burden of proof is generally on the
those consequences. prosecution.
The prosecution must prove all the
Criminal Defences elements that constitute the crime for which
Some criminal acts are not wrongful under the defendant is prosecuted, as in
special circumstances or are reluctantly Woolminton v DPP (1935).
conducted under threats
Therefore, it would be unfair to punish the Criminal Standard of Proof
defendant without considering those The prosecution must prove each element
circumstances which can mitigate or of the offence beyond reasonable doubt.
eliminate criminal liability. This means that the evidence presented
Diminished responsibility – a partial must be so convincing that no reasonable
defence to a crime committed due to person could have any doubts about the
impairment of mental functions. defendant’s guilt.
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