Criminal Law and Practice
This subject combines substantive criminal law (the elements of specific offences and defences) with the procedure of a criminal case: charge, bail, disclosure, and the route to trial.
Fault element (mens rea) questions are the most common trap: two very similar fact patterns can produce different offences depending only on the defendant’s state of mind.
Every section of Criminal Law and Practice
32 sections and 114 topics, in the order they are taught. Open a section to read the topics inside it.
Actus Reus, Mens Rea and Coincidence 3 topics
- The elements and their coincidence
- The burden of proof
- Liability for omissions
Causation (Result Crimes) 3 topics
- Factual causation
- Legal causation and intervening acts
- The thin skull rule
Mens Rea: Intention, Recklessness, Negligence and Transferred Malice 4 topics
- Direct and oblique intention
- Recklessness
- Transferred malice
- Motive is not an element
Corporate Criminal Liability: Identification Doctrine, Failure-to-Prevent Offences and Deferred Prosecution Agreements 3 topics
- The identification doctrine
- Failure to prevent offences
- Deferred prosecution agreements
Murder 2 topics
- The definition of murder
- A foetus, and child destruction
Voluntary Manslaughter: Loss of Control and Diminished Responsibility 2 topics
- Diminished responsibility
- Loss of control
Involuntary Manslaughter: Unlawful Act and Gross Negligence 2 topics
- Unlawful act manslaughter
- Gross negligence manslaughter
Common Assault: Assault and Battery 2 topics
- Assault
- Battery
Actual Bodily Harm, Wounding and Grievous Bodily Harm, and Grievous Bodily Harm with Intent 3 topics
- Assault occasioning actual bodily harm
- Wounding and inflicting grievous bodily harm
- Wounding or causing grievous bodily harm with intent
Consent to Assault, Actual Bodily Harm and Grievous Bodily Harm 1 topic
- When consent is a defence
Theft (Theft Act 1968, sections 1 to 6) 7 topics
- The definition of theft
- Appropriation
- Dishonesty
- Property, belonging to another, and intention to deprive
- Handling stolen goods
- Going equipped
- Making off without payment
Robbery (Theft Act 1968, section 8) 1 topic
- The elements of robbery
Burglary and Aggravated Burglary (Theft Act 1968, sections 9 and 10) 4 topics
- Burglary with intent on entry
- Burglary committed after entry
- Aggravated burglary
- Maximum sentences for burglary
Fraud (Fraud Act 2006, sections 2 to 4) 4 topics
- Fraud by false representation
- Fraud by failing to disclose
- Fraud by abuse of position
- Obtaining services dishonestly
Criminal Damage, Aggravated Criminal Damage and Arson (Criminal Damage Act 1971) 4 topics
- Basic criminal damage
- Aggravated criminal damage
- Arson
- The maximum sentence for basic criminal damage
General Defences: Self-Defence, Intoxication, Duress, Necessity, Consent, Insanity and Automatism 6 topics
- Self-defence
- Intoxication
- Duress by threats
- Necessity
- Age, insanity and automatism
- Unfitness to plead
Inchoate Offences: Attempts, and Encouraging or Assisting 3 topics
- Attempt
- Verdict rules on an attempt
- Encouraging or assisting an offence
Parties and Accessorial Liability 3 topics
- Aiding, abetting, counselling or procuring
- The innocent agent
- Joint principals
Police Station: Rights of a Detained Suspect (Police and Criminal Evidence Act 1984) 6 topics
- The right to legal advice
- The right to silence and adverse inferences
- The appropriate adult
- The role of the solicitor at the station
- Requirements for a lawful interview
- Post-charge bail and the custody officer
Custody Time Limits (Police and Criminal Evidence Act 1984, sections 41 to 44) 2 topics
- The detention clocks
- Periodic reviews of detention
Identification Procedures (Police and Criminal Evidence Act Code D) 1 topic
- When a procedure must be held
Bail (Bail Act 1976) 6 topics
- The presumption in favour of bail
- Bail on a murder charge, and further applications
- The Schedule 1 exceptions
- The narrowed real prospect of custody condition
- A new factor in the bail decision
- The full argument certificate
Classification of Offences, First Hearing, Plea Before Venue and Allocation 8 topics
- The three classes of offence
- Plea before venue and allocation
- Sending without allocation
- Low value criminal damage
- Case management and the first hearing
- A Goodyear indication
- Advising on venue for an either-way offence
- Representation orders
Disclosure (Criminal Procedure and Investigations Act 1996) 3 topics
- Prosecution disclosure
- The defence statement
- Service of the prosecution case in the Crown Court
Confessions and Exclusion of Evidence (Police and Criminal Evidence Act 1984, sections 76 and 78) 3 topics
- Confessions and their exclusion
- The general discretion to exclude
- The voir dire
Bad Character, Hearsay and Visual Identification 6 topics
- The seven bad character gateways
- Bad character of a person other than the defendant
- Hearsay in criminal proceedings
- The Turnbull warning
- Good character directions
- Notice deadlines for bad character
Sentencing (Sentencing Act 2020) 7 topics
- The purposes of sentencing, and the guidelines
- Credit for a guilty plea
- Types of sentence and magistrates’ powers
- Newton hearings
- Pre-sentence reports
- Concurrent and consecutive sentences
- The victim surcharge
Criminal Appeals 2 topics
- Appeals from the Magistrates’ Court
- Appeals from the Crown Court
Youth Court Procedure 2 topics
- How the Youth Court works
- Turning 18 during proceedings
Trial Procedure: Witness Competence and Compellability, Special Measures and No Case to Answer 6 topics
- Competence and compellability
- Special measures
- No case to answer and the Galbraith test
- Compellability of a co-defendant
- The stages of a trial, and leading questions
- Modes of address
Welsh Language in Criminal Proceedings 1 topic
- The right to use Welsh in proceedings
Youth Sentencing: Referral Orders, Youth Rehabilitation Orders and Detention and Training Orders 4 topics
- Principles of youth sentencing
- Referral orders
- Youth rehabilitation orders
- Detention and training orders
See the format
Written for this page only, in the same single best answer format as the 370+ questions in the Criminal Law and Practice section of the course.
A defendant sets fire to a house to destroy insured contents, believing everyone inside has already left. In fact a resident is still asleep upstairs and dies in the fire. At trial, the defendant genuinely believed the house was empty, though a reasonable person in his position would have realised there was a high probability someone remained. Can the jury find that the defendant intended to kill?
The jury may find intention only where death or serious injury was a virtually certain result of the defendant’s act and the defendant himself appreciated that it was virtually certain, not merely where an objective, reasonable person would have foreseen a risk. Since the defendant genuinely believed the house was empty, the necessary subjective foresight is missing, so intention cannot be found on this route. Foresight of a high probability, short of virtual certainty, is not treated as legally equivalent to intention, and while motive is indeed irrelevant to whether intention exists, that principle does not itself supply the missing foresight.
Authority: R v Woollin [1999] 1 AC 82.
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