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Essay On Gross Negligence

1222 Words5 Pages

Thesis: Gross Negligence is not a State of Mind. No persons should be found guilty of a crime merely because he acted below the standard of the reasonable man. (FOR) In Criminal law by Card, Cross and Jones, the term mens rea is defined as “the state of mind expressly or impliedly required by the definition of the offence charged.” These ‘states of mind’ have routinely been understood to include “intention” and “recklessness”. Over time, there have been debates as to whether ‘negligence’ – a type of fault that carries a heavy criminal burden – is a state of mind. Here, we argue that negligence, particularly gross negligence, is not a state of mind, and contend that no persons should be found guilty of a crime because he acted below the standard of the reasonable man. Negligence is the taking of an “unreasonable risk”, though unwittingly, that the reasonable man would not take in the very situation. Gross negligence carries a higher degree of carelessness where “the defendant must fall far below the standard of a …show more content…

where there is no state of mind at all. The law’s intention is to create liability to criminal punishment only where there is a mental element. In Attorney General Reference no. 2 of 1999 , an incident where 7 train passengers died at the hands of the rail station company for their lack of ensuring safety procedures were put in place. The decision of this case was that a corporation couldn’t be convicted of gross negligence manslaughter in the absence of evidence, as gross negligence should not be a form of mens

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