Active learning ideas
This topic introduces the fundamental building blocks of criminal liability: actus reus (the guilty act) and mens rea (the guilty mind). Students learn that for most crimes, both elements must coincide in time. The unit covers complex aspects of actus reus, such as omissions (where a failure to act leads to liability) and the rules of causation, which determine if the defendant's conduct actually caused the prohibited result.
Activity 01
Provide groups with a 'disaster scenario' involving multiple events (e.g., a stabbing, a medical error, and an allergic reaction). Students must use 'but for' and legal causation tests to determine where the chain of causation breaks.
What constitutes an actus reus?
Activity 02
Give students a list of scenarios where someone fails to act. In pairs, they must identify if a legal duty exists (e.g., contractual, parental, or assuming care) and whether that person could be liable for a crime.
How is legal and factual causation established?
Activity 03
One student plays a defendant and another a police officer. The officer must ask questions to determine if the defendant had direct intent, oblique intent (virtually certain), or was simply reckless regarding a specific harm.
What is the difference between direct intent, oblique intent, and recklessness?
A few notes on teaching this unit
Watch Out for These Misconceptions
You can't be guilty of a crime for doing nothing.
Liability can arise from an omission if there is a legal duty to act (e.g., R v Pittwood). A 'duty of care' checklist helps students identify the specific legal exceptions to the general rule.
Intent is the same as motive.
Intent is the decision to bring about a prohibited result, while motive is the reason why you want that result. Motive is usually irrelevant to liability. A 'motive vs intent' sorting task helps clarify this distinction.
Methods used in this brief
Strict Liability
An analysis of strict liability offences where mens rea is not required for at least one aspect of the actus reus. Students evaluate the justification for such offences.
8 methodologies
Non-Fatal Offences Against the Person
A detailed study of assault, battery, assault occasioning actual bodily harm, and grievous bodily harm under the Offences Against the Person Act 1861.
8 methodologies