RECKLESSNESS

Recklessness in Criminal Law

Recklessness in Criminal Law

Introduction

In criminal law, recklessness is considered to be one of the four states of mind. It is clear that people do not commit crimes on their own. There must be a certain state of mind that leads people to act the way they do. There also has to be a certain intention, criminal negligence, recklessness, or knowledge at the same time. Recklessness can cause danger to another person or may be offensive against property.

The exact definition of recklessness has various over the years. One of the main reasons this definition is changing is that several cases have led to the modification of the definition in order to get rid of any shortcomings. However, despite several cases having an impact on the definition, there is still no definition of the term recklessness due to which efforts are still underway to find a solution to this problem.

Description

According to criminal law, recklessness can be considered one of the mental state of liability. It is less culpable than intention but more than criminal negligence. Most of the assessment of cases in which recklessness is involved shows that one of the main reasons is that people are unaware about the consequences that may arise from being reckless. For instance if a person is driving a car recklessly, he may be aware of the fact that he may cause an accident but he also believes that he is in control and nothing will go wrong. This view changes when something wrong happens and he has to accept his fault. In order to judge whether a person is responsible for being reckless or not, courts often conduct one of three types of tests:

Subjective tests in which the court tries to establish the state of mind in which the person was during the moment of the incident.

Objectivity test in which the court tries to relate a normal person given the same circumstances and state of mind as he accused. This would enable the court to determine how others would behave under similar situations.

Hybrid test. This test includes a combination of both tests. This test is considered to be the most successful test since it takes several aspects into mind.

Recklessness often takes place in situations in which the person is aware of the consequences but despite of knowing clearly the consequences goes forward with the act. Such people are dangerous to the society as they can lead to the loss of lives and the destruction of property. There is another situation that can be compared to recklessness. Under this situation the person creates a scenario without knowing the possible outcomes. Such scenarios can also be considered a part of recklessness because the person is creating a dangerous situation. Although similar to negligence, recklessness is a bit more related to the person's intensions since he knows the possible outcomes.

Changing of Definition

The definition of recklessness has been constantly changing since some cases have presented a scenario not covered by the ...