Actus Reus - omissions PDF

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Actus Reus: Physical element of a crime/ Act of the defendant Act comprises of i) ii)

bodily movement ii) must be voluntary: In Bratty v A-G for Northern Ireland Lord Denning said:an act no act is punishable if it done involuntarily,which means it is done by the muscles without any control by the mind e.g. a spasm,a convulsion or a reflex action or an act done by a person who is not conscious of what he is doing e.g. an act done while having a concussion or whilst sleepwalking

Exceptions to act requirement i) ii)

situational crimes: e.g. allowing a dog to be dangerously out of control in public (Elwin 1994) possession crimes: possession of offensive articles( Deyami 2008)

iii) Crimes of Omissions: a) Statutory Crimes of Omissions: In act crimes the failure to act may itself constitute the crime.The majority of such crimes are statutes in which the statute will expressly create a duty to act in a particular way. E.g. failing to submit a tax return,failing to provide a specimen under S 4 of the road traffic act 1988,falin to report an accident under s 170(4) of RTA 1988, failure to disclose information regarding another person’s terrorist activities under s 19 of the terrorism act 2000 b) Crimes of Commission committed by omission: In result crimes the failure to act may contribute towards the harm specified in the offence. Crimes of commission are those crimes whose definition include an actus reus which satisfies the act requirement, but whose result component can be caused by doing nothing. E.g. actus reus of murder is “an unlawful killing”. An act of killing involves some affirmative action such as stabbing,suffocating,shooting but it can also be caused by doing nothing such as a parents of a child who give their baby no foo so that it dies o cause the death of the baby. To ensure criminal liability is not spread too far,there are certain requirements for harm caused by omission 1) 2) 3) 4)

The crime must be capable of commission by omission There must be a legal duty to act and D’s failure to act must be in breach of that duty D’s failure to act must be voluntary The harm must be caused by the omission

1) The crime must be capable of commission by omission Most result crimes are capable of being committed by omission.This includes theft,murder,criminal damage,fraud and most forms of manslaughter.The definition of some offences specify or imply that only acts are sufficient. For example i)

ii) iii)

assault In R v Dunn,D was charged with indecent assault.D had made a 15yo girl to masturbate him,COA held that the offence was not made out because to be an assault the act should have been committed by D but the act was that of the girl. Thus he was not convicted of indecent assault but for the offence of causing a child to engage in sexual activity. Burglary( s 9 of the theft act 1968 requires D to “enter” into a building as a “trespasser”) Making off w/o payment (s 3 of the theft act 1978 requires D to “make off”)...