Criminal Law

Murder is the unlawful killing of another human being without justification or excuse; without malice. To be convicted of murder charges, the state has to proven that the accused planned to kill the victim, or that the accused acted in a way that he or she knew they would harm or kill the victim. The punishment for murder is usually life imprisonment, but the court can impose any punishment they choose.

Criminal law is a set of rules and regulation that dealing with crimes against the state or society. Criminal law it is the basic principle that a crime was committed. It relies mainly on the mental element and physical element. For example a person's awareness of the fact that his or her conduct is criminal that is the physical element actus reus. Actus reus, Latin for a guilty act, an act that violates the law. The act itself is the physical element of a crime.

The concept of mens rea was development in the 1600s in England when judges felt that an act alone could not create criminal liability unless accompanied with a guilty state of mind. For example, the state of mind at the time of crime is the mental element. Mens Rea is generally used with the words general intent; however I can see where this may create some confusion since the general intent is used to describe criminal liability when a defendant does not intend to bring about a particular result. That's another paper on judges and jury.

On the other hand the specific intent describes a particular state of mind above and beyond for what is required. There are three states of mind which constitute the necessary mens rea for a criminal offence. They are intention, recklessness and negligence. The law states that foresee of consequences can only be a direct intent in a normal situation where the consequences of a person's actions are intentional. To secure a conviction, the prosecutor must prove that the defendant committed murder while in a malicious state of mind. For a defense against murder, one could claim self-defense, that they killed the person while defending themselves, if this was proven, the accused could be acquitted. They could also claim they were provoked, if this was proven, the crime would be brought down to lesser charges.