The Criminal Mind
The element of a crime referred to as the "guilty act" and may include either an action or a failure to act.
What is actus reus?
This party carries the burden of proving guilt in a criminal trial.
Who is the Crown?
A person sleepwalks and causes harm without conscious awareness of their actions.
What is automatism?
Police must generally have this before searching a private home
What is a warrant?
A prior criminal record would most likely be considered this type of factor during sentencing.
What is an aggravating circumstance?
A person sees clear warning signs that drugs are hidden in a vehicle but deliberately avoids checking because they “don’t want to know.”
What is wilful blindness?
This legal standard requires a judge or jurors to be firmly convinced of guilt but not absolutely certain
What is beyond a reasonable doubt?
A defence that argues the accused committed the act only because they were threatened with harm by another person.
What is duress?
This standard is required for police to arrest someone
What are reasonable grounds?
This factor may reduce a sentence because it suggests reduced culpability
What are mitigating circumstances?
A driver speeds through a crowded school zone without intending harm but ignores an obvious risk to others.
What is recklessness?
Evidence such as fingerprints found at a scene would generally be classified as this type of evidence.
A defence recognizing that a person understood their actions physically but could not appreciate that their actions were morally or legally wrong due to mental disorder.
What is not criminally responsible or NCR?
Police stop someone based only on a “gut feeling” and no evidence or objective fact.
What is unlawful search and seizure?
This concept examines how overlapping identities such as race, gender, and class may affect someone’s experience in the justice system
What is intersectionality?
A construction supervisor ignores repeated reports that safety harnesses on a worksite are defective because replacing them would delay the project and increase costs. One of the harnesses fails, resulting in a worker’s death.
What is criminal negligence?
A form of direct evidence, typically given within a court room under oath.
What is a witness statement?
A person is trapped during a natural disaster and steals another person’s vehicle to transport an injured child to a hospital after emergency services become unavailable.
What is necessity?
The legal standard that would justify police detaining a person repeatedly trying door handles of parked cars in a deserted parking lot at 2 a.m.
What is reasonable suspicion?
A legal procedure that would follow if the accused argued that the trial judge gave incorrect legal instructions to the jury, which may have affected the verdict.
What is an appeal?
A person genuinely believes they are shooting a deer but accidentally shoots a person after failing to properly identify their target. Their actions would most likely be evaluated as this type of "guilty mind".
What is objective mens rea?
This ICC presides over states that have signed or ratified this law.
What is the Rome Statute?
A store owner tackles and repeatedly punches a teenager who attempted to shoplift a chocolate bar, even after the teenager stopped resisting and tried to leave.
What is unreasonable force?
A Charter Right is violated when a person is arrested and held in custody for an extended period without being formally charged or brought before a judge.
What is habeas corpus?
This Canadian law raises debates about fairness because it gives special protections and sentencing considerations to accused persons under 18.
What is the Youth Criminal Justice Act?