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    Essential Elements of Crime

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    Lexili
    The essential elements of a crime are: 1) A human being who commits the act or omission. 2) Mens rea or guilty mind/intent of the human being. There must be an evil intent accompanying the act. 3) Actus reus - a voluntary act or omission that is forbidden by law and results from the guilty mind. 4) Injury, which is any harm illegally caused to another person, their body, mind, reputation or property. However, some crimes like driving without a license constitute crimes even without injury.

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    Essential Elements of Crime

    Uploaded by

    Lexili
    120 views3 pages
    The essential elements of a crime are: 1) A human being who commits the act or omission. 2) Mens rea or guilty mind/intent of the human being. There must be an evil intent accompanying the act. 3) Actus reus - a voluntary act or omission that is forbidden by law and results from the guilty mind. 4) Injury, which is any harm illegally caused to another person, their body, mind, reputation or property. However, some crimes like driving without a license constitute crimes even without injury.

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    The essential elements of a crime are: 1) A human being who commits the act or omission. 2) Mens rea or guilty mind/intent of the human being. There must be an evil intent accompanying the act. 3) Actus reus - a voluntary act or omission that is forbidden by law and results from the guilty mind. 4) Injury, which is any harm illegally caused to another person, their body, mind, reputation or property. However, some crimes like driving without a license constitute crimes even without injury.

    Copyright:

    © All Rights Reserved
    Download as DOCX, PDF, TXT or read online from Scribd
    Download as docx, pdf, or txt
    120 views3 pages

    Essential Elements of Crime

    Uploaded by

    Lexili
    The essential elements of a crime are: 1) A human being who commits the act or omission. 2) Mens rea or guilty mind/intent of the human being. There must be an evil intent accompanying the act. 3) Actus reus - a voluntary act or omission that is forbidden by law and results from the guilty mind. 4) Injury, which is any harm illegally caused to another person, their body, mind, reputation or property. However, some crimes like driving without a license constitute crimes even without injury.

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    © All Rights Reserved
    Download as DOCX, PDF, TXT or read online from Scribd
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    Essential Elements of Crime

    The main elements that make up a crime are:

    1. A human being

    2. Evil intent or guilty mind from the part of a human being. (Mens rea)

    3. Any act committed or omitted in accordance with the evil intent and is forbidden by

    law. (Actus reus)

    4. Injury

    1. Human Being

    The first element of a crime is a human being. Any wrongful act to be called crime

    must be done by a human being. There must be a human being under a legal

    obligation to act in a particular way, and it must also be capable of being punished.

    2. Mens Rea

    The second essential element of a crime is mens rea or guilty mind or evil intent.

    Mens rea refers to the mental element that is necessary for a particular crime. Any

    wrongful act committed by a human being cannot be called a crime if committed

    without evil intent. There must be an evil intent while doing an act.

    There is a well-known maxim– ‘Actus non facit reum nisi mens sit rea‘. It means

    ‘the act itself does not make a man guilty unless his intentions were so.’ From

    this maxim there came another maxim- ‘actus me invito factus non est mens actus’

    which means ‘an act done by me against my will is not my act at all.’

    3. Actus Reus
    The third element of the crime is actus reus. The criminal intent to be punishable

    must be obvious in some voluntary act or omission. As per Kenny, ‘actus reus’ is

    such a result of human conduct as the law seeks to prevent. The act committed must

    be the one that is forbidden or is punished by the law.

    An act includes omissions also. A man is also held liable if some duty is imposed

    upon him by law, and he omits to discharge that duty. An omission must be a breach

    of a legal duty.

    4. Injury

    Injury is the last important, or we can say the essential element of a crime. It must be

    caused illegally to another human being or a body of individuals or society at large.

    ‘Injury’ has been defined in section 44 of the Indian Penal Code as ‘any harm

    whatever illegally caused to any person in body, mind, reputation or property.’

    However, there can be some crimes that may not cause any injury to

    anybody. For example, if you drive a vehicle without a driving license, it is a crime,

    even if it does not cause any injury to someone.

    Types of Mens Rea (Levels of Culpability)


    When a defendant commits a crime, their criminal case will involve one of the
    following types of mens rea or levels of culpability:

     Intent. When a person acts with the determination to commit a dangerous or


    illegal act, they have criminal intent. Example: A defendant assaults a victim
    with the intent to inflict bodily injury.
     Knowledge. When a person is consciously aware that their actions would
    result in a particular type of harm, they have criminal knowledge. Example: A
    defendant hit another person when they did not intend to inflict bodily injury.
     Recklessness. When a person engages in particular conduct despite being
    aware of the risks, they can be found reckless. Example: A driver gets behind
    the wheel of a motor vehicle while intoxicated and ends up crashing their car
    and injuring another person.
     Negligence. When a person’s conduct falls below a reasonable standard of
    care, they can be found negligent. Example: A child gets hurt on a babysitter’s
    watch because the babysitter failed to perform their duties.

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