Criminal Legal Term of the Week
Posted on October 6th, 2007 by Administrator
From now on every week I will post a legal term that is connected to the criminal law field.
Today’s Legal Term is Mens Rea.
Mens Rea is the mental component of a criminal offense. An accused’s mental state can affect his/her charge as much as the act itself. See Nolo.
Example: If someone is intoxicated at a party, playing with his loaded gun, and it goes off and shoots someone then that person’s mental state is less culpable than if that same person had stalked an individual for 5 years, learned the persons habits, and broke into their home for the purpose of killing that person.
In Arkansas there are generally four different culpable mental states: Purposefully, Knowingly, Recklessly, and Negligently.
Next week’s legal term: Actus Reus.
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