Criminal Coursework

Criminal Coursework

Factual Test of Causation

Causation is referred to as an inquiry to find out that whether a person has committed a crime or not. Causation divides the liability of the crime and in case of a criminal liability there are two kinds of causation tests, one is the factual causation test and the second one is legal causation test. The factual causation test is created by adding 'but for' in the test. This test asks the questions in order to find the reasons for the actions of the defendant due to which an incident occurred. If the results of the test occurred are yes than the defendant is not liable for the crime but if the results of the test results in no than it means that the defendant is liable and the actions of the defendant were among the factual causes of the results. Simply this test finds out the liability of the crime on a defendant on the basis of the facts. According to many writers this test itself is not sufficient for holding a person liable of the crime on the basis of his or her acts because a major part of the test focuses on the non-casual factors and only focuses on one or two causes of the criminal act. The factual causation test is also insufficient because it does not take into consider indirect factors that can be involved in a criminal activity committed by an individual. Another weakness of the factual test is that on the basis of the results of the test they are unable to directly decide whether a person is liable to the crime or not. Therefore it limits the factual test in putting the responsibility on the person whether he is liable for the act he or she has committed or not.

Interpretation of the Legal Test of Causation

According to Wright (1985){2} the interpretation of courts for the legal test of causation is as following: according to them legal test of causation is not only a form of abstract of defining facts but it is declaration of the causes of the criminal activity performed by an individual. It defines the reason due to which a criminal activity has occurred. The legal test of causation is also termed as the process of selecting the direct cause of the crime among the different reasons listed as a result of conducting to kinds of tests. The identification of the root cause helps the judiciary or the courts in resolving the dispute and facilitates the courts in passing their decision against or in favour of the dependent. Many courts have also argued the fact that legal test of causation are not relevant, especially in the case where there are multiple reasons for the crime. In these cases it is hard to pick out one cause and fact relation to the criminal activity performed by a dependant. Thus the courts in these situations have enabled the researchers to use other methods also along with the ...