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104 - Criminal Law

(half unit, lent term)

Convenor

Georgina Firth

Criminal Law may be defined as a body of rules concerned with the prevention and punishment of acts and omissions deemed to be public wrongs. This course introduces students to and conducts a broad investigation of the body of rules that make up Criminal Law. However, as Criminal Law is more than a body of rules, the course adopts a contextual approach to an understanding of the substantive law and of issues over how criminal responsibility is constructed and ascribed. As such, the course examines not only the general principles of Criminal Law but also selected major offences. It considers the nature, structure, aims and functions of Criminal Law while paying particular attention to the constituent elements of offences against the person and property. The course addresses key concepts of Criminal Law including the actus reus element - the requirement for a criminal act or omission - and the mens rea element - the culpable mental state. It also examines such matters as conceptions of harm; causation and criminal liability; accomplice liability and inchoate criminality (attempt, conspiracy and incitement); homicide; non-fatal offences against the person; sexuality and the enforcement of morality; theft and deception offences; and general defences. The course will be assessed by a single, in-class, timed problem question plus a three-hour exam in the Summer Term.

Assessment:

A single, in-class, timed problem question plus a three-hour exam in the Summer Term.

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