Chapter 3 Multiple choice questions

. Which of the following is true? The mens rea of a crime is:

that part of the crime which relates to fault.

that part of the crime which describes what D was thinking.

that part of the crime which describes what D should have been thinking.

that part of the crime which describes D's conduct.

. Which of the following is true?

It is for the defendant to prove he did not form the mens rea of the crime.

Intention is assessed objectively.

The burden of proving the mens rea lies on the prosecution.

The mens rea of murder is intention.

. Which of the following types of mens rea is NOT assessed subjectively?

Intention

Recklessness

Wilfully

Negligence

. Which of the following is the most accurate summary of the Woollin (1999) test?

Where D is charged with murder and the simple direction (that it is for the jury to decide whether D intended to kill or do serious bodily harm) is not enough, the jury should be directed that they are not entitled to infer the necessary intention unless they feel sure that death or serious bodily harm was a virtual certainty (barring some unforeseen intervention) as a result of D's actions and that D appreciated that was the case, the decision being one for them to reach on a consideration of all the evidence.

Where D is charged with murder and the simple direction (that it is for the jury to decide whether D intended to kill or do serious bodily harm) is not enough, the jury should be directed that they are not entitled to find the necessary intention unless they feel sure that death or serious bodily harm was a virtual certainty (barring some unforeseen intervention) as a result of D's actions and that D appreciated that was the case, the decision being one for them to reach on a consideration of all the evidence.

Where D is charged with murder and the simple direction (that it is for the jury to decide whether D intended to kill or do serious bodily harm) is not enough, the jury should be directed that they may find D intended the natural consequences of his act.

Where D is charged with murder and the simple direction (that it is for the jury to decide whether D intended to kill or do serious bodily harm) is not enough, the jury should be directed that the greater the probability of a consequence the more likely it was that the consequence was foreseen and the greater the probability was that that consequence was also intended.

. If foresight of a virtual certainty is evidence of intention, which of the following statements is false?

The jury must reach its decision on all the facts.

The jury may find D foresaw the result as a virtual certainty but may nevertheless find he did not intend the result.

The jury must first decide whether D foresaw the result as a virtual certainty before considering whether D intended the result.

The jury has to convict D if they find he foresaw the result as a virtual certainty.

. Which of the following is the most accurate description of subjective recklessness? The defendant took an unjustifiable risk and:

foresaw the risk and took the risk anyway.

foresaw the risk so chose not to run the risk.

was wicked in his conduct.

the risk would have been obvious to the reasonable person, where D did not foresee it.

. Which of the following is one of the reasons given by Lord Bingham in R v G (2004) for overruling Caldwell (1981)?

It is correct morally and legally to convict a person on the basis of what would have been obvious to a reasonable person.

The views of legal academics should be ignored by the judiciary.

It is clearly not blameworthy to do something involving a risk … if one genuinely does not perceive the risk. Such a person may fairly be accused of stupidity or lack of imagination, but neither of those failings should expose him to conviction of serious crime or the risk of punishment.

The decision in Caldwell (1981) was made in line with legal principle.

. Which of the following statements most accurately describes the factual issues which arose in Church (1966)?

Two men hit a third over the head, intending to kill him, but only knocked him unconscious. Believing he was dead and, in an effort to fake an accident, they rolled him off a cliff. The man later died of exposure at the bottom of the cliff.

A man beat a woman unconscious and, in a panic and thinking she was dead, threw her into a river. At the time she was alive but then died from drowning.

A man hit his wife on the chin, intending serious harm and knocking her unconscious. While he was trying to drag her body along the street to avoid detection, he accidentally lost his grip. Her head hit the pavement, fracturing her skull and causing her death.

A woman went to hit a man with her belt, but the belt accidentally rebounded and hit a third party, causing injury.

. Which of the following best describes the doctrine of transferred malice?

Whether an intention to injure one person can be transferred to an unintended person.

Whether an intention to injure a person can be transferred to unintended property damage.

Whether an intention to hurt a pregnant woman can be transferred from the woman to the unborn baby and then from the unborn baby to the child when it is born.

Whether a jury should be directed that they are not entitled to find the necessary intention unless they feel sure that death or serious bodily harm was a virtual certainty (barring some unforeseen intervention) as a result of D's actions and that D appreciated that was the case, the decision being one for them to reach on a consideration of all the evidence.

. Which of the following statements is false?

The defendants in R v G (2004) did not appreciate the risk of the fire spreading.

The defendants in R v G (2004) were below the age of criminal capacity.

The trial judge in R v G (2004) summed up to the jury using the Caldwell (1981) test.

Caldwell's 'objective' recklessness had been subject to widespread criticism.

Chapter 3 Multiple choice questions

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