Criminal Law 1 LWEN 1304

Course description:

This course covers the general principles of criminal liability, criminalization, and the development, operation and function of the law relating to major offences against the person and against property. It explains the most important procedural rules governing the criminal process.
The teaching programme will cover the following:
Sources, scope and definition of criminal law, Justifications for criminalising conduct. Underlying assumptions and criminal law doctrine. Aims and practice of punishment. General principles and the bases of criminal responsibility. The problematic nature of general principles. Basic notions of criminal responsibility: harm and culpability. Physical (actus reus) and mental(mens rea) elements of crime. Acts and omissions. The voluntary act requirement. Issues of causation. The mental element - subjective fault elements. Intention, recklessness and indifference. The role of mistake and intoxication and the requirement of contemporaneity of actus reus and mens rea. Objective and attributed liability. The place of negligence in the criminal law - ?gross? and ?Ordinary? negligence. Strict and absolute liability. Attempting, inciting and conspiring to commit offences. Secondary liability for offending. The defenses – matters of justification and excuse. The reform of the defenses. Specific offences

Course Aims:

Course outcomes:

By the end of the course, students who pass this course should be able to:

  • Identify and discuss why we criminalize behavior.
  • Demonstrate a good understanding of general principles, including identification of "actus reus" and "mens rea" from statute.
  • Appreciate the role of inchoate and secondary offending.
  • Demonstrate an understanding of the role of justification and excuse, including more in-depth knowledge of some of the common defenses.
  • Demonstrate an understanding of the operation of a selection of specific offences, which will in turn underline and reinforce what has been learnt regarding basic principles.