CRIMINAL LAW Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 2500 words

CRIMINAL LAW - Essay Example ort published in 2006 made recommendations calculated to address the current complexities of the homicide laws which invariably involve a three tier division of the offences of unlawful homicide. 5 This paper critically evaluates the merits of the Law Commission’s recommendations in the context of the current laws governing unlawful homicide. It will be argued that the Law Commission’s recommendations with respect to dividing unlawful homicide into three distinct groups is fair. This is particularly so since fair labelling principles in criminal law are important for distinguishing between different levels of culpability.6 Under the law of homicide in England and Wales, the killing of another human being can be either lawful or unlawful.7 Lawful homicide which may include killing during wartime, the accidental killing of another during a lawful sporting event or during a lawful death penalty execution are outside the ambit of this paper. Unlawful homicide is currently compartmentalized in England and Wales as either manslaughter, murder or infanticide.8 Unlawful homicide requires actus reus which refers to the guilty act. The difficulties and complexities of unlawful homicide arise however with the establishment of mens rea, the second element of each of the offences.9 The mens rea refers to the mental element and invariably involves issues of intent and causation.10 Fiona Brookeman describes how the essential element of mens rea creates difficulties with respect to unlawful homicide: â€Å"Whilst it is relatively straightforward to prescribe or define a particular act with particular consequences as a guilty act, it is far from straightforward to determine to what extent the act or its consequences were intended. In other words it has to be acknowledged that not all killings are intended and that there exists, therefore, different levels of culpability or guilt amongst perpetrators.†11 The manner in which unlawful homicide treats the offence of