Inferring Intention
S8 Criminal Justice Act 1967:
- “A court or
Jury, in determining whether a person
has committed an offence… shall decide whether he did intend or
foresee that result by reference to all the evidence, drawing
such inferences from the evidence as appear proper in the
circumstances”
The Distinction between a person acting with
intention and acting recklessly
- If a person acts with the intention to
commit a crime they do so with the choice to bring about a
result.
- For example if a person sets out with a
weapon determined to physically injure their neighbour they
would have the intention to being about the hurt of their
neighbour.
- Whereas with recklessness, if a person
acts recklessly they have a choice to take an unjustified risk
that the result may occur.
- For example if a person sets fire to a
pile of newspapers with the only intention of burning the
newspaper however the newspapers where next to a wheelie bin,
the person would be acting recklessly as there is an unjustified
risk that the wheelie bin may catch on fire.
The distinction between Direct Intention and
Oblique Intention
- Once it can be established that a person
has the intention to commit a crime the courts then need to
figure out whether their intention is direct or oblique.
Depending on what type of intention a defendant may have will
depend on the sentence attached to the offence.
- Direct intention occurs where you act in
order to bring about a result for its own sake or a person acts
in order to bring about a result as a means to something else.
- Oblique intention is where a person acts
with the intention that the circumstances of their actions are
virtually certain.
Direct Intention
- When trying to prove direct intention the
prosecution will look at the aim and the purpose of the
defendants intention.
- There has been a long established test
that helps the legal system establish direct intention, this is
called Duff’s rule of thumb.
Duffs Rule of Thumb
This test consists of the success/ failure
reasoning. Basically the prosecution will ask if a person would
regard themselves as having failed if the result that did occur had
not happened.
Oblique intention
- The jury will be directed to find someone
as having oblique intention if they believe that the defendant
knew the result was a virtual certainty and chose to act in the
way they did regardless.
