Question 1
The criminal liability of a person arises when a person will be held responsible for committing a crime (Tombs & Whyte, 2020). When a person has acted in such a way that shows his criminal intention. The criminal liability of a person does not include acting accidentally or deliberately to hurt another person. It is referred to as duty for a crime committed by a person along with it society imposes a penalty for such crime. A person would be accountable for a crime when he has a vital level of criminal intent.
The criminal liability of Maria will arise when the essentials of a crime are satisfied. The two significant characteristics of a crime. It includes Mens Rea which means “a guilty mind” as the court will not punish the person who is innocent as the harm is caused by a person who has a guilty mind (Barrett & Saxe, 2021). Maria would be held criminally liable when she has a guilty mind towards her infant girl. She asked Sarah to give daily medicine to her infant girl and the medicine include poison. If Maria has deliberately included the poison in the medicine for an infant. The action of Maria shows the wrong intention.
The first thing involves Actus Reus which is referred to as an act as well as an omission that encompass the physical elements regarding the commission of a crime. Actus reus include result, omission, state of affairs and conduct (King, et al., 2020). The first element involves conduct for example perjury, making without payment, possession of drugs, theft and rape. The actus reus resulted in some acts of conduct that includes assault, murder, battery and criminal damage. Another is omission where the general rule involves a liability regarding the failure of the act.
In the case scenario, the criminal liability will be determined when the above elements concerning the criminal liability are satisfied. If Maria was aware of the fact that the medicine bottle include poison then she will be held criminally liable for the commission of the act. The burden of proof is upon Maria but when the mens rea will not be proved she will be considered innocent. Also, she will get the opportunity of presumption of doubt. The criminal act involves actus reus as well as mens rea, there was a murder of an infant girl due to poison leading to the existence of actus reus. While proving mens rea in the case of Maria is difficult.
A person would be held liable when he has committed a crime. Criminal liability is defined as the responsibility of an individual for an action that involves criminal intent (Bittle & Frauley, 2018). A person will be criminally liable who has taken part during the execution of any criminal act. The essentials of crime include criminal act, concurrence, attendant circumstances, criminal intent and causation.
The criminal liability of Sarah will be determined when the essentials things and if there is no involvement of such essentials then she will not be held responsible for the criminal act. The essential element for determining criminal liability is Actus Reus where several kinds of actus reus include any act of commission and the other act of omission. The commission is regarded as a criminal activity that resulted from voluntary movement (Nwalozie, 2020). Also, the actus reus include any physical action by a person. it is considered significant for determining the criminal offence. The act of murder was committed but Sarah would not be considered criminally liable because the actus reus would not be considered under her case. Instead, Sarah placed the medicine bottle in the kitchen and on a high shelf. If she wanted to give the medicine to the infant girl then she would have given it and did not hide the medicine.
Question 2
Another thing that forms a criminal liability of a person is mens rea which is referred to as a mental state of a person for committing any wrongful act (Sheley, 2018). It is considered an important element to determine the criminal act of a person was purposeful. Mens rea involves the mental intention of a person where Sarah does not have any bad intention as well as no guilty mind. She even did not give the medicine to an infant girl as the medicine was not required to be given to her. If she was aware of a situation that the medicine include poison then she would have never given her. As she was not aware that there is the inclusion of poison but she did not give the medicine as an infant girl did not need the medicine. Sarah would not be criminally liable as both the factors of criminal liability were not satisfied in her case and she does not have any motive to kill the infant girl. She was taking care of the child during the absence of her mother.
The criminal justice system in the UK treats children as well as young people different as compared to adults. The children that are below 18 adds some kind of weight towards the criminal liability. The age of criminal obligation of a child is 10 years of age in England and Wales (UK Government, 2021). It determines that children that are below 10 years of age cannot be arrested by the police and also, they cannot be charged with any crime. Also, when children that are below 10 years of age break any law then they can be provided with punishment. In the case scenario, daughter of Sarah is 7 years of age and she did not know the meaning of law then how she will break any law. If she was aware of her act then some punishment can be given to her but she did not know anything about the medicine.
There was no involvement of the mens rea in the case of Sarah’s daughter. She did not know about the medicine nor did she know about the law, which determines that she did not have any guilty mind. A person can sue a minor child for committing any crime but in the UK a child who is below 10 years of age cannot be arrested. It is also presumed by the court that the child who is below 7 years of age is incapable to form a mens rea due to which the young child cannot be punished for the crime (CPS, 2021). The actus reus under the situation of a child is regarded as more than guilty mind and their behaviour towards any act.
When the daughter of Sarah found the medicine and she had given a high dose to the infant girl due to which the infant girl had died. Sarah’s daughter was unaware of such information as she was a minor and no criminal liability arises in her situation. The reason is that the actus reus, as well as mens rea, was absent which would not make Sarah’s daughter liable for any criminal act.
Question 3
When a person is dealing drugs or if drugs are possessed by the person, then there will be involvement of strict liability against such crimes (Phillips, 2020). It is the responsibility of the prosecution to prove the person guilty of a crime who has possessed drugs. The proof is based upon mens rea, connection with the crime and guilty mind of a person. In the case scenario when investigation regarding the death of an infant girl was accomplished by the police then they have found a quantity of heroin in the house of Maria, that was stored in the kitchen cupboards.
Maria will be held liable under the strict liability for carrying the drugs in her home, in spite off, she has refused that she was unaware of such facts regarding heroin. In the offences where there is the involvement of strict liability then the mens rea will be required to be proved and the person will be convicted of an offence without the presence of mens rea (Levin, 2019). Strict liability is considered an essential part of actus reus. During the strict liability, a person would be considered as liable though an individual has taken reasonable care for ensuring that the law is followed. In criminal law, in the UK a person will be liable under strict liability even though they are not at fault.
Strict liability operates harshly as the crime involves social concern and carries a strict penalty (Geeraets, 2018). In the UK there are penalties imposed on a person who takes drugs, make drugs, carry drugs and sell drugs. When a person possessed heroin with themselves then he will get punishment for 7 years and it also involves a fine as well as both punishment and fine (UK Government, 2021). In the case scenario, a mens rea of Maria will not be established to check whether she is criminally liable or not. Strict liability will be undertaken against her as heroin was found in her house. Also, strict liability is used for maintenance of the safety in the environment through the way of encouraging individuals and the damages will be prevented. Therefore, Maria will be held liable under strict liability.
References
Barrett, H. C. & Saxe, R. R., 2021. Are some cultures more mind-minded in their moral judgements than others?. Philosophical Transactions of the Royal Society B, 376(1838), p. 20200288.
Bittle, S. & Frauley, J., 2018. The profits of recognition: A praxeological approach to corporate crime. Critical Criminology, 26(4), pp. 611-630.
CPS, 2021. Youth crime. [Online]Available at: https://www.cps.gov.uk/crime-info/youth-crime[Accessed 9 March 2022].
Geeraets, V., 2018. Ideology, doping and the spirit of sport. Sport, ethics and philosophy, 12(3), pp. 255-271.
King, T. C., Aggarwal, N., Taddeo, M. & Floridi, L., 2020. Artificial intelligence crime: An interdisciplinary analysis of foreseeable threats and solutions. Science and engineering ethics, 26(1), pp. 89-120.
Levin, B., 2019. Mens rea reform and its discontents. J. Crim. L. & Criminology, Volume 109, p. 491.
Nwalozie, C. J., 2020. Exploring contemporary sea piracy in nigeria, the niger delta and the Gulf of Guinea. Journal of transportation security, 13(3), pp. 159-178.
Phillips, K. S., 2020. From Overdose to Crime Scene: The Incompatibility of Drug-Induced Homicide Statutes with Due Process. Duke LJ, Volume 70, p. 659.
Sheley, E. L., 2018. Tort answers to the problem of corporate criminal mens rea. NCL Rev., Volume 97, p. 773.
Tombs, S. & Whyte, D., 2020. The shifting imaginaries of corporate crime. Journal of white collar and corporate crime, 1(1), pp. 16-23.
UK Government, 2021. Age of criminal responsibility. [Online]Available at: https://www.gov.uk/age-of-criminal-responsibility#:~:text=The%20age%20of%20criminal%20responsibility,10%20who%20break%20the%20law.
[Accessed 9 March 2022].
UK Government, 2021. Drugs penalties. [Online]Available at: https://www.gov.uk/penalties-drug-possession-dealing[Accessed 9 March 2022].
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