Criminal Law and Criminal Procedure
What the section tests
Criminal law and procedure test the elements of offences, liability, and the safeguards of the Code of Criminal Procedure.
Core rules
- Legality: no crime or punishment without a prior statute (Art. 1).
- Elements: act, causation, wrongfulness, and culpability.
- Attempt: punishable only where the statute so provides (Art. 25).
- Complicity: joint principals, instigators, and accessories.
- Defences: self-defence, necessity, lawful act.
- Procedure: presumption of innocence, burden on the prosecution, right to counsel and silence (Art. 95), exclusionary rule (Art. 158-4), and corroboration of confessions (Art. 156).
Worked example
Police search a home without a warrant and find drugs; the suspect confesses. The search is unlawful unless an exception such as consent, arrest, or exigency applies. The drugs may be excluded after balancing the violation against the public interest. The confession must be voluntary and corroborated; it cannot alone support a conviction.
Traps
- Treating preparation as attempt.
- Confusing instigation with assistance.
- Assuming all illegally obtained evidence is excluded.
- Convicting on confession alone.
- Ignoring the defence of necessity.