Criminal Law - Intent

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ASSIGNMENT ONE Under the Criminal Law of Zambia, there is a specific term for the Latin word mens rea. The mens rea is established by proof that the accused had, at the time he or she carried out the criminal act which caused the death of the victim, either (i) an intention to kill, or (ii) an intention to cause grievous bodily harm. You should identify the mens rea as known in Zambia and carefully EVALUATE its EFFICACY in the dispensation of justice in Zambia. 1. Your articles should be written in the form of a legal essay. 2. Type your work double – spacing, using font size no. 14. 3. Your article must not exceed eight (8) pages. 4. Submit your script on or before the due date. Late submission is not allowed. There are certain kinds of crimes that have harmful consequences, and there are other sorts of crimes that consist of harmful actions. With these second sorts of crimes, like rape, robbery, larceny, and fraud, it's fairly easy to tell that the harm happened in the here and now -- there's an immediate connection between action and harm; someone was violated or dispossessed of an object, and these things do not normally happen by natural causes or by accident. By contrast, crimes of harmful consequences, like homicide, arson, mayhem, and assault, usually present us with the possibility of a gap in time between action and harm -- death, destruction, and injury might occur by natural causes or by accident. In cases of homicide, then, we must always infer or attribute the cause of death -- that is, we must examine the elements of mens rea (intent) and causation. This paper shall look at the mens rea requirement as known in Zambia in proving a case of murder while evaluating its efficacy in the dispensation of justice. It will firstly highlight on the legislation regarding murder as known in Zambia, the mens rea concept and then
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