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UK Criminal Law
Recklessness is a problematic area of the criminal law, since there is no strict definition of what constitutes it. Statutes make provision for the presence of recklessness, but have yet to define it strictly, so it becomes the job of judges to interpret the word. It is therefore most easily delineated via case law.
So how does one go about interpreting exactly what may be a reckless act? To begin with, it is a type of mens rea for criminal liability. According to Kevin Boone, judges have had to rely on “explanations in important case reports” to work out what may amount to recklessness. This means going through potentially huge amounts of recklessness cases to see if the case in question could fall within the confines set out there. Realising this is challenging, the Law Commission have sought to rectify the situation, by releasing several working papers on the issue. One of them gives the following explanation:
“a person acts recklessly [if] he is aware of a risk that…exists or will exist [or] …when he is aware of risk that…will occur and it is, in the circumstances known to him, unreasonable to take the risk.”
Even this in itself is dubious, as it can be difficult to establish the mindset of the
Approximate Word count = 2040
Approximate Pages = 8 (250 words per page double spaced)
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