Actus reus and mens rea.

 

 

Distinguish between the terms actus reus and mens rea. How are they significant in criminal law?
To what standard of law must the defendant’s mens rea be proven in order to gain a criminal conviction? Must the state prove “what the defendant was thinking at the time of the crime” in order to prove mens rea? Why or why not?
To what standard of law must each element of the actus reus be proven, and why?
Which of the two legal requirements listed above (i.e., actus reus and mens rea) is more difficult to prove beyond a reasonable doubt in a trial, and why?

 

Sample Solution

Actus reus and mens rea

Most crimes consist of two broad elements: mens rea and actus reus. Mens rea means to have “a guilty mind.” The rationale behind the rule is that it is wrong for society to punish those who innocently cause harm. Actus reus literally means “guilty act,” and generally refers to an overt act in furtherance of a crime. Requiring an overt act as part of a crime means that society has chosen to punish only bad deeds, not bad thoughts. To constitute criminal behavior, the actus reus and the mens rea must occur simultaneously. For example, suppose John Doe shoots Bob Roe with the intent to kill, but misses completely. Doe later accidentally runs over Roe, resulting in Roe`s death. Doe is not guilty of murder.

 

 

 

There has been talk for a considerable length of time about a missing connection between early people and their antecedents. It has been maybe the most antagonistic issue with respect to human advancement in demonstrating the hypothesis of development as obvious and authentic. All things considered, a missing connection has been as of late found. It doesn’t give a total image of the advancement from our ancestors to early people, however it is a stage in gathering more data to shape the whole canvas of our development. These transitional fossils are critical to recuperate to pursue away the inquiries of doubters in the hypothesis of advancement and to set up the total direction of development. What’s more, in spite of new proof being discovered, researchers remind the open that advancement isn’t straight. It is more perplexing than that: numerous parts of human advancement meet, falling all through support, in a manner of speaking. In this sense, there isn’t one fossil that will be the missing connection, however numerous to show the genuine movement. In any case, researchers have as of late discovered that fossils of Australopithecus sediba, through broad research, show these creatures were firmly connected to the Homo family.

Before we examine the ongoing disclosure, it ought to be noticed that few other “missing connections” have been found beforehand. “Java Man” (Homo erectus) was found in 1891 in Indonesia; “Piltdown Man” was found in 1912, yet was resolved to be a lie; “Taung Child” (Australopithecus africanus) was found in 1924 in South Africa; “Homo habilis” was found in 1964, however its characterization is addressed; “Lucy” (Australopithecus afarensis) was found in 1974 in Ethiopia; lastly Australopithecus sediba was found beginning from 2008, and more skeletons were found up until 2010 (Wood, Bernard, and Brian G. Richmond).

The revelation of the most up to date “missing connection” stumbled over coincidentally. As indicated by CNN, “The Malapa site, South Africa’s “Support of Humankind,” was broadly found unintentionally by nine-year-old Matthew Berger as he pursued his canine” (Picheta, Rob). The skeletons found of Australopithecus sediba help with understanding the hole among “Lucy” and “Homo habilis.” Australopithecus sediba was for the most part an occupant of trees, destined to be away from predators and to discover nourishment up there. They lived roughly 2,000,000 years back, and it took a time of discussion to decide the genuine hugeness of the discoveries.

The new discoveries about these skeletons are significant in indicating why it is a missing connection. As indicated by CNN, “The hands have getting a handle on abilities, which are further developed than those of Homo habilis, proposing it, as well, was an early apparatus client” (Picheta, Rob). Likewise, perhaps the greatest revelation originating from these skeletons is that they recommend that there were a few ancestries from our forerunners. The more research pours in, it appears to be increasingly more that human advancement was non-direct. This is additionally validated by the way that few sorts of primates interbred (Yancey-Bragg, N’dea). With additional on this procedure, Professor Lee Berger from the University of the Witwatersrand expresses that, “human advancement is certifiably not a straight procedure, where one species advances into another, but instead follows a procedure like an interlaced stream, or waterway delta, where a stream may diverge into its own bearing, or later stream back and join an alternate stream, which may “develop” into another species” (“Australopithecus Sediba: No Such Thing as a Missing Link”).

Therefore, the new “missing connection” is simply one more piece in the riddle of human advancement. There is no goal missing fossil or fossils that will understand a straight movement from our ancestors to early people. Development is more mind boggling than that. Regardless of a few of these precursors being seen that can said as filling in the holes in our insight into human advancement, there are a lot more disclosures to come, and because of the intricacy of development, it may take us a lot more years to get a full image of our development, if that is conceivable.

Works Cited

Wood, Bernard, and Brian G. Richmond. “Human Evolution: Taxonomy and Paleobiology.” Journal of Anatomy, vol. 197, no. 1, 2000, pp. 19–60., doi:10.1046/j.1469-7580.2000.19710019.x.

Picheta, Rob. “‘Missing Link’ in Human History Confirmed after Long Debate.” CNN, Cable News Network, 20 Jan. 2019, edition.cnn.com/2019/01/19/wellbeing/australopithecus-sediba-mankind’s history-scli-intl/index.html.

Yancey-Bragg, N’dea. “Fossils Discovered in South Africa Are the ‘Missing Link’ in Human Evolution, Study Finds.” USA Today, Gannett Satellite Information Network, 21 Jan. 2019, www.usatoday.com/story/news/country/2019/01/21/study-south-african-fossils-missing-interface human-advancement/2636837002/.

 

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