Crime
The meaning of crime
A crime can be defined as any act or omission of duty that results in harm to society and which is punishable by the state. You should take particular note of the fact that a crime, by definition, harms society as a whole. For this reason, while not undermining the impact that crimes have on particular victims, crimes are prosecuted by the state, i.e. it is not the role of the victim to prosecute the person(s) committing the crime. Accordingly, criminal cases in Australia are reported as R v Jones….with the R standing for Regina (Latin for Queen, representing the Crown and therefore the state) and Jones being the accused.
The elements of crime: actus reus, mens rea
For the prosecution to obtain a conviction, they must prove the existence of all elements of a crime to the requisite criminal standard of proof, being beyond a reasonable doubt. See below under the Criminal Trial process for more details.
With the exception of strict liability offences (see below) for a criminal offence to have occurred, the accused must have committed both elements of the crime:
Actus reus: refers to the actions (or in rare cases the failure to act/the omission) of the accused; that is that the accused actually did the act
Mens rea: refers to the mental state of the accused; i.e. that the accused intended the actions.
While defences to criminal charges will be discussed in more detail (refer to the Criminal Trial process below) it is a good idea at this early stage for you to make the connection between the elements of a crime and defences. If you think about the essential elements of a crime, you will note that specific defences, if proven, operate to remove one of those elements thus precluding the prosecution from proving their case beyond a reasonable doubt. For example, the defence of self defence removes the mens rea element as, if proven, clearly the accused’s intention was to defend themselves or a third party and not commit the crime.
A crime can be defined as any act or omission of duty that results in harm to society and which is punishable by the state. You should take particular note of the fact that a crime, by definition, harms society as a whole. For this reason, while not undermining the impact that crimes have on particular victims, crimes are prosecuted by the state, i.e. it is not the role of the victim to prosecute the person(s) committing the crime. Accordingly, criminal cases in Australia are reported as R v Jones….with the R standing for Regina (Latin for Queen, representing the Crown and therefore the state) and Jones being the accused.
The elements of crime: actus reus, mens rea
For the prosecution to obtain a conviction, they must prove the existence of all elements of a crime to the requisite criminal standard of proof, being beyond a reasonable doubt. See below under the Criminal Trial process for more details.
With the exception of strict liability offences (see below) for a criminal offence to have occurred, the accused must have committed both elements of the crime:
Actus reus: refers to the actions (or in rare cases the failure to act/the omission) of the accused; that is that the accused actually did the act
Mens rea: refers to the mental state of the accused; i.e. that the accused intended the actions.
While defences to criminal charges will be discussed in more detail (refer to the Criminal Trial process below) it is a good idea at this early stage for you to make the connection between the elements of a crime and defences. If you think about the essential elements of a crime, you will note that specific defences, if proven, operate to remove one of those elements thus precluding the prosecution from proving their case beyond a reasonable doubt. For example, the defence of self defence removes the mens rea element as, if proven, clearly the accused’s intention was to defend themselves or a third party and not commit the crime.