Strict Liability in Criminal Law Essays

4.2- outline how the principle of ‘duty of care’ can be maintained whilst supporting individuals to take risks

At first, the NSW Supreme Court found that the Public Relation Oriented Security was not vicariously liable as the assault was motivated by guard’s blood lust and want beyond the reasonable acts. In Sprod bnf v Public Relations Oriented Security Pty Ltd[1], the court of appeal was faced with complex difficulty concerning the employee’s authority either the authority of the employee is within the scope of employment or not which may resulted in vicarious liability.

Cases that fall under the strict liability laws are a lot easier to proof in court and take less time to resolve. The public are encouraged to comply with the laws which helps prevents unreasonable defenses to be use as an excuse. For example, statutory rape falls under the strict liability crimes. In the majority of the cases is hard for the defendant to avoid been criminal liable because of their excuse of been naïve, or didn’t bother to take the extra steps of making sure the victim was of consensual age. It may seem unfair to prosecute someone for statutory rape even if the minor showed a fake ID, or appeared to be older than 18, but that is one of the reasons strict liability laws exist to express to the public ignorance will not be tolerated.

Two of the main justifications usually given for the use of strict liability are that they encourage greater safety and improved standards of prevention, thus offering the public better protection from the risks involved in particular activities.

Strict liability offences are offences which do not require proof of mens rea. This means that the prosecution only needs to prove that the defendant voluntarily committed a forbidden act without considering if the defendant had the intention. Strict liability is contained in statutes or statutory instruments, and occasionally found in common law. Common law offences of strict liability include criminal libel and blasphemous libel. Also liability is rarely absolute. Most strict liability offences are regulatory and are involved in environmental protection laws, food, health and safety, the sale of alcohol and many more.

The employer has a responsibility to follow the regulation which is known as the ‘Health and Safety at Work Act 1974’. This is An Act to make further provision for securing the health, safety and

The NHS Litigation Authority is now responsible for claims of clinical negligence, with trusts in England belonging to the Clinical Negligence Scheme for Trusts (CNST) run by the NHSLA; with the current structure providing indemnity for all those employed by the NHS; whereby ‘NHS employers are ordinarily responsible for the negligent acts of their employees where these occur in the course of the NHS employment’ (NHSLA, 2011). It could be argued that because doctors are no longer individually liable for their actions, this could invoke a reduced standard of care. In spite of this, Towse & Danzon (1999) suggest that with the assumption that an employer is at a better position to mitigate risk than its employees; this move to ‘enterprise liability’ should further improve deterrence. Tappan (2005) adds that adopting enterprise liability helps deterrence by giving hospitals incentives to gather data and eliminate errors; and due to the heightened financial risk, to identify and deal with doctors providing inefficient treatment. This is supported by NHS policy, which states that if it is deemed appropriate to do so, a Trust may ‘take disciplinary action against the individual responsible for the negligence which caused the harm’ (NHS, 2005). Since the NHSLA also provides incentives, such as discounts ‘to hospitals that achieve certain

All crimes consisted of an act is carried out with minds that have planned a guilty thought according to common law. Criminal intent can be the basis of fault and punishment according to intent is a solid promise of the criminal justice according to modern society. Crimes that lack the intent element are less common and are usually graded lower, as either misdemeanors or infractions. Specific intent is the intent with the highest level of culpability for crimes other than murder. Specific intent means that the defendant acts with a more sophisticated level of awareness (Connecticut Jury Instructions No. 2.3-1, 2011).When you hold someone liable for an offense without considering the carelessness of the person then we refers to it strict liability. In law, strict liability is a standard for liability which may exist in either a criminal or civil context. Concurrence in the law is the requirement that a guilty mental state coincide with a guilty

One of the fundamental principles of the Criminal Law System is the presumption of innocence until proven guilty (McSherry, 2003). By enacting punitive legislation such as the examples given above, it has been said that it is removing this Common law right from the individual (Greig, 1995). It has also been said that it creates an exception to the general principle of law that no person shall be imprisoned unless a court comprised of Judge/Jury is convinced, beyond reasonable doubt that the person committed a very serious offence. Thereby effectively allowing people to be detained without the burden of proving guilt (Keon-Cohen, 1992).

When approaching the identification, assessment and management of risk, a knowledge of key legal principles and legislation will help practitioners to make informed decisions that promote both the involvement and interests of adults with a disability and older people, and their families. It will also support and promote best practice for professional staff involved in supporting positive risk management. An understanding of the following legislation and legal principles is important. However, where there is doubt about legal issues,

Childs, W. G. (1999). The Intersection of Peremptory Challenges, Challenges for Cause, and Harmless Error. American Journal of Criminal Law, 27(1), 49-80. Retrieved November 10, 2017, from https://bethelu.idm.oclc.org/login?url=https://search-proquest-com.bethelu.idm.oclc.org/docview/206253551?accountid=56725

Establishing whether not the current case is analogous to cases in which a duty of care already been determine. For instance the category of which duty of care has been held not to exist. The law justifies all these through the word responsibility. Everyone has a responsibility for their actions. This same word, responsibility, is also used to justify strict and vicarious liability. Parents, guardians, employers and other similar persons are responsible for their wards and employees. I think this is also a balancing of the scale. Due to circumstances such as incapacity in law of inability to pay, the injured party may be

Tort law is a very prevalent aspect of conducting business and daily life in the twenty first century. According to the textbook, The Legal Environment of Business, tort law provides “remedies for the invasion of various protected interests.” (Cross & Miller, 2012) In this essay about tort law, I will talk about a tort case that has personally impacted me. To do so, I will provide a background of the event, apply facts of the case to applicable law, summarize lessons of the week as they relate to this case and provide a plausible argument for the parties involved.

This paper will be discussing the concept of strict liability along with the concept of absolute liability within the R. v. Sault Ste. Marie (1978). In doing so, this paper will explain how strict liability offences strike a good balance between the policy rationales for absolute liability in regulatory offences and the criminal law principle that only the morally blameworthy may be punished, and how the courts have interpreted absolute liability offence and their relationship with the Charter of Rights.

Laws serve several purposes in the criminal justice system. The main purpose of criminal law is to protect, serve, and limit human actions and to help guide human conduct. Also, laws provide penalties and punishment against those who are guilty of committing crimes against property or persons. In the modern world, there are three choices in dealing with criminals’ namely criminal punishment, private action and executive control. Although both private action and executive control are advantageous in terms of costs and speed, they present big dangers that discourage their use unless in exceptional situations. The second purpose of criminal law is to punish the offender. Punishing the offender is the most important purpose of criminal law