Introduction to Criminal Law

• Definition of a Crime

  Professor Kenny - "Crimes are wrongs whose sanction is punitive."
• Definition of a Crime

  Professor Williams - "An act capable of being followed by criminal proceedings, having a criminal outcome, and a proceeding or its outcome is criminal if it has certain characteristics which mark it as criminal."
• Changing Nature of Crime:

  1. Changes in society
  2. Changes in technology
  3. Advancements in medicine
• Changes in Society:

  • 1885 Criminal Law Amendment Act criminalized consenting private sexual acts between two people of the same gender.
  • Sexual Offences Act 1967 legalized this for adults over 21
  • Reduced to 18 in 1994, and 16 in 2000
• Changes in Technology:

  • Driving - alcohol, drug driving, mobile phones, driverless cars
  • Internet - hacking, fraud, cyberbullying
• Advancements in medicine

  • Legality of cloning
  • Abortion
  • Health and Safety - including Covid.
• Elements of Crime - 2 principles that MUST apply to case:

  1. The suspect is INNOCENT UNTIL PROVEN GUILTY
  2. The Jury must be convinced BEYOND REASONABLE DOUBT
• Guilty Act - Actus Reus
• Every crime has an Actus Reus that needs to be proven by the prosecution in court
• Guilty Mind - Mens Rea
• Most crimes have a Mens Rea that needs to be proven by the prosecution in court
• Actus Reus + Mens Rea = Guilty
• Purpose of Criminal Law:

  • Protect us from harm
  • Protect property
  • Preserve order in society
  • Enforce moral standards
  • Balance conflicting interests
  • Punish those at fault and provide a deterrent
  • Educate society about appropriate behaviour
  • Achieve justice
• Theories of Criminal Law - explain ways criminal law operates, and the challenges facing the courts when they make decisions.
• Theories of Criminal Law:

  • Legal Paternalism
  • Individual and Collectivism
  • Legal Necessity
  • Legal Moralism
  • The Harm Principle
  • Distributive Justice
  • Socio-Economic and Public Policy Factors
  • Symbolic Criminalisation
• Legal Paternalism:

  • the idea that laws and policies exist to stop people engaging in risky behavior that may cause them harm.
  • can be seen in laws which stop drug taking
• Individualism and collectivism:

  • the balance between rights of individual against rights of the group (society).
  • Gough v DPP
• Legal Necessity:

  • asks the question of whether it's ever right to break the law to avoid a sure evil.
  • Re A (Conjoined Twins) 2000
• Legal Moralism:

  • when the law is used to prohibit certain behaviors based on whether society thinks it is morally wrong
  • Wolfenden Committee
• Harm Principle:

  • a theory by JS Mill 1859 which says that the state should only stop/ control behavior which is harmful to others, and that is there is no real victim should be no punishment.
• Distributive Justice:

  • idea that in order to get justice in society, needs to be an equal distribution of the resources in society = social welfare law
  • examples - payments of benefits from tax funds
• Socio-economic and public policy factors:

  • where the law will look at number of factors when making decisions - including what are called public policy factors.
  • in Bromley LBC v GLC it was decided that Bromley Council were not legally bound to follow through with all of the promises made in an election manifesto as their decisions once elected can be based on a number of other public policy factors too.
• Symbolic criminalization:

  • refers to how some crimes are publicly perceive as being worse that other crimes
  • example - contrast the negative public reaction to benefit fraud (costing £8.4 bn) against the lackluster public reaction to tax fraud (costing £35 bn).
• Legal Principles:

  • Fair Labelling
  • Fair warning and certainty
  • Non-retroactivity
• Fair labelling = when labelling someone as criminal, or as a criminals of a specific offence, it should be suited to their action
• Fair warning and certainty = codification means all of criminal law in one place making it easier to follow. Rimmington & Goldstein: convictions quashed as the law wasn't clear enough on what was an offence (sending several letters containing racial hatred o several people, and sending salt in an envelope as a joke - anthrax)
• Non-retroactivity = not being convicted for something that wasn't a crime when it was committed.