15. Criminal damage

Course-focused and comprehensive, the Textbook on series provides an accessible overview of the key areas on the law curriculum. The Criminal Damage Act 1971 includes the main offences in English law involving damage to property. This chapter discusses the offence of destroying or damaging property belonging to another, destroying or damaging property with intent to endanger life, threats to destroy or damage property, possessing anything with intent to destroy or damage property, and racially or religiously aggravated criminal damage. The Law in Context feature examines critically the prosecution of environmental protesters for criminal damage, including the use of the lawful excuse when the protesters claim to have been acting to protect the environment.

14. Further offences under the Theft Acts

Course-focused and comprehensive, the Textbook on series provides an accessible overview of the key areas on the law curriculum. This chapter discusses the following offences in the Theft Acts 1968 and 1978: making off without payment; burglary (including discussion of the key terms ‘entry as a trespasser’, ‘building’, and the ulterior offences); aggravated burglary; blackmail; handling stolen goods; and dishonestly retaining a wrongful credit. The Law in Context feature examines how burglars are sentenced, including the changing approach of the Court of Appeal, the ‘three strikes and you’re out’ mandatory sentence, and the publication of guidelines by the Sentencing Council.

8. Inchoate offences

Course-focused and comprehensive, the Textbook on series provides an accessible overview of the key areas on the law curriculum. This chapter discusses inchoate crimes. A person does not break the criminal law simply by having evil thoughts. Where, however, a person takes steps towards effecting that plan to commit a substantive offence which is more than merely preparatory, he may in the process commit one of the inchoate crimes of attempt, conspiracy, or encouraging or assisting the commission of an offence. The chapter examines relevant offences in the Serious Crime Act 2007 concerning encouraging or assisting and the Act’s abolition of the offence of incitement. It outlines the legal protection from prosecution provided to particular vulnerable victims who might otherwise be liable for encouraging others to commit offences against them, such as some child victims of sexual offences. The chapter analyses the statutory offence of conspiracy and outlines common law offences of conspiracy to defraud and conspiracy to corrupt public morals or to outrage public decency. It examines the requirements for liability for attempt. The Law in Context feature examines critically the growing range of inchoate offences for terrorist offences.

5. Capacity and incapacitating conditions

Course-focused and comprehensive, the Textbook on series provides an accessible overview of the key areas on the law curriculum. A person should only be held criminally liable where he has the capacity to understand his actions, and to recognise the consequences which may flow from them, and, having understood them, where he has the capacity to control them. The criminal law recognises the requirement of rational capacity by excepting persons who lack rational capacity from liability in certain circumstances. This chapter examines the issues of the age of criminal responsibility, insanity and the M’Naghten Rules (including analysis of the meaning of a ‘disease of the mind’ and the cognitive tests for determining whether someone is legally insane), automatism, and intoxication (with analysis of the distinction between offences of specific intent and basic intent). A revised and updated Law in Context feature explores the treatment of mentally disordered defendants and offenders in the criminal justice system.

4. Negligence and strict liability

Course-focused and comprehensive, the Textbook on series provides an accessible overview of the key areas on the law curriculum. This chapter discusses the meaning of negligence, arguments for and against negligence as a basis for criminal liability, the meaning of strict liability, the origins of strict liability, justifications for strict liability, identifying offences of strict liability, the presumption of mens rea in offences of strict liability, defences to strict liability, and strict liability and the European Convention on Human Rights. A Law in Context feature examines critically the use of strict liability as the basis for liability in the offence of paying for the sexual services of a person who has been subject to exploitation.

1. Criminal law in context

Course-focused and comprehensive, the Textbook on series provides an accessible overview of the key areas on the law curriculum. This introductory chapter answers the following questions: What is a crime? What purpose or function does the criminal law serve? What reasons are there for the criminalisation of some types of conduct? What are the purposes of punishment? What are the political and social contexts in which criminal law operates? The chapter provides an overview of key aspects of the criminal process, including mode of trial, the decision to prosecute, the burden and standard of proof, the functions of judge and jury, and sentencing. It also examines briefly discusses the impact of the European Convention on Human Rights on English law.

12. Offences under the Theft Acts 1968 and 1978: Theft and related offences

Course-focused and comprehensive, the Textbook on series provides an accessible overview of the key areas on the law curriculum. This chapter discusses offences under the Theft Acts of 1968 and 1978. It covers each element of the offence of theft (dishonest appropriation of property belonging to another with the intention permanently to deprive), abstracting electricity, robbery, and offences involving temporary deprivation. It discusses the meaning of ‘dishonesty’, including the Supreme Court’s decision in Ivey v Genting Casinos UK Ltd (2018), which held that the two-part Ghosh test for dishonesty no longer applies. The Law in Context feature analyses critically the criminalisation of ‘freeganism’.

9. Homicide

Course-focused and comprehensive, the Textbook on series provides an accessible overview of the key areas on the law curriculum. This chapter discusses offences of homicide: murder and manslaughter. Murder is unlawful homicide committed with ‘malice aforethought’ for which the penalty is life imprisonment. Manslaughter generally covers all unlawful homicides which are not murder. The punishment for this offence is in the discretion of the court. Manslaughter may be divided into voluntary and involuntary. Voluntary manslaughter arises where the accused has committed murder but circumstances of excuse or justification, either diminished responsibility or loss of self-control, are present reducing his culpability. The chapter analyses the scope of these defences, situating them in the context of the abolition in 2009 of the provocation defence. Involuntary manslaughter is an unlawful killing where the accused lacked malice aforethought but otherwise had a state of mind which the law treats as culpable. Unlawful act manslaughter covers situations where a person has unlawfully killed as a result of committing a separate unlawful act, such as a punch. Gross negligence manslaughter covers situations where a person has unlawfully killed as a result of a gross breach of a duty of care owed to the victim. The Law in Context feature examines the sentencing for homicide offences in light of new guidelines from the Sentencing Council.

6. General defences

Course-focused and comprehensive, the Textbook on series provides an accessible overview of the key areas on the law curriculum. This chapter discusses general defences of duress, necessity, and private defence and prevention of crime. Duress relates to the situation where a person commits an offence to avoid the greater evil of death or serious injury to himself or another threatened by a third party. Necessity relates to the situation where a person commits an offence to avoid the greater evil to himself or another, which would ensue from objective dangers arising from the circumstances in which he or that other are placed. An accused charged with a violent offence may seek to plead that he acted as he did to protect himself, or his property, or others from attack; or to prevent crime; or to effect a lawful arrest.

2. Actus reus

Course-focused and comprehensive, the Textbook on series provides an accessible overview of the key areas on the law curriculum. This chapter explains the concept of actus reus. It discusses the elements of crime, defining an actus reus, proving an actus reus, that conduct must be voluntary, state of affairs offences, omissions liability (situations in which a person will be liable for failing to act), causation (including the principles of factual and legal causation), and coincidence in time of actus reus and mens rea. A revised and updated Law in Context feature analyses critically English law’s approach to liability for causing another person’s suicide.