Actus Reus Definition

When it comes to crime most people think that they have a general sense of just what it is. Suitable characterization for crime to this day remains one of the most perilous unsettled issues in the criminal justice system. The legal definition of crime according to Blacks law dictionary is; an act committed or omitted, in violation of a public law, *either forbidding or commanding it; a breach or violation of some public right or duty due to a whole community, considered as a community. It is the core basis of the criminal justice system in the United States. However, the legal definition of crime has its own problems due to over criminalization, non-enforcement, and under criminalization. The definition itself does not specify all of the elements

Actus Reus is Latin for “guilty act,” referring to criminal demeanor. Specifically, intended, or feloniously neglectful action or inaction that causes detriment. Anything from a bodily assault or homicide to the obliteration of community property would be considered Actus reus. Another form would be omission as an act of criminal negligence. This includes not attempting to take action that would have prevented harm to another person. The exemption to actus reus is when the illicit actions are unintentional. Mens rea is Latin for “guilty mind,” referring to the psychological state an individual must be in while committing a crime for it to be deliberate. It can allude to a general intent to break the law or a specific, thought-out plan to commit a specific crime. To convict an accused individual for a wrong doing, a criminal prosecutor must show beyond any judicious uncertainty that the suspect effectively and intentionally took an interest in an offence that hurt someone else or their property. Basically, it concludes whether someone committed an unlawful act decisively or inadvertently. This idea generally applies to homicide