Criminal Law and Criminal Procedure
What this domain tests
Criminal law and procedure tests the elements of offences under the Penal Code and the process under the Criminal Procedure and Evidence Code: arrest, bail, plea, trial, conviction and appeal.
Core rules
- Liability generally requires actus reus (conduct, circumstances, consequences) and mens rea (intention, recklessness, knowledge or negligence). Some statutory offences are strict liability.
- Homicide: murder requires malice aforethought; manslaughter covers unlawful killing without malice, including provocation reducing murder.
- Theft requires dishonest appropriation of property belonging to another with intention permanently to deprive. Robbery adds force; burglary adds trespass in a building with intent.
- Defences include self-defence, provocation, insanity, automatism, intoxication (where it negatives specific intent), duress, necessity and infancy. The defence must fit the offence and the evidence.
- Procedure: arrest with or without warrant in permitted cases; caution; right to counsel; bail unless a statutory exception applies; plea; trial; appeal.
- The prosecution bears the burden of proving guilt beyond reasonable doubt. The accused bears only an evidential burden for most defences.
Worked example
An employee takes a bag from the workplace believing it is her own identical bag. Although the physical taking is proved, the dishonest intention needed for theft is absent. The prosecution cannot prove mens rea beyond reasonable doubt, so the charge fails. If she later discovers the mistake and keeps the bag, a new appropriation may create liability.
Traps
Do not call every unlawful killing murder; check malice. Do not treat bail as automatic or as unavailable in all serious cases. Keep the procedural stage clear. Do not invent offences; identify the statutory or common-law source.