Defence of Duress

• 1.It is a general defence to all crimes except murder and attempted murder.

  When D raises the defence, the burden is on the prosecution to disprove it beyond reasonable doubt
• According to HASAN, the elements of duress by threats are:

  • there must be a threat of death or serious injury;
  • threat against D or his immediate family or someone close to him or someone for whom D would reasonably regard himself as responsible;
  • D must reasonably believe that he had good cause to fear death or serious injury and his response must be one which might be expected of a sober person of reasonable firmness;
  • D was told to do something criminal;
  • there must be no reasonable opportunity to escape the threat;
  • D cannot rely on threats to which he has voluntarily laid himself open.
• HASAN:

  1. A threat of death or serious injury
• HASAN:

  2.threat made against his immediate family or someone for whom D would reasonably regard himself as responsible.
• HASAN:

  3. Did D reasonably believe that he had good cause to fear death or serious injury and was his response one which might be expected of a sober person of reasonable firmness?

  It is also irrelevant that D is vulnerable to pressure.
• HASAN:

  4. D told to do something criminal.
• HASAN:

  5. The defence will not be available where D had a reasonable opportunity to contact the police or escape: GILL
• HASAN:

  6. The defence of duress fails where D voluntarily associates with criminals and he foresaw or ought reasonably to have foreseen the risk of being forced to commit any crime by threats of violence.
• Duress of Circumstances:

  1. where D is forced to commit a crime because he reasonably believes there is a risk of death or serious injury arising from the circumstances in which he finds himself. Committing the crime is D’s only reasonable way of escaping the threat. D is not told to commit a specific crime ‘or else’.
• Defence of circumstances:

  2. What is crucial is the immediacy of the threat and D’s inability to avoid it.