Murder for Dummies

As Normal People, we often view the Law as confusing, or quite simply, irrelevant to our lives. There is no harm, however, in having some basic knowledge of Murder. who doesn’t love a good bit of murder ?

In the Criminal Law we have, Mens rea, and Actus reus. But as Normal people, we have no clue what they mean, or why we even still use Latin !

Think of "mens rea" like this: it's what's going on in someone's head before they do something. It's like when you decide to grab a cookie from the jar even though you know you're not supposed to. You had the thought of taking the cookie, and you knew it was wrong. That's kinda like "mens rea" for a crime.

Now, "actus reus" is what a person actually does. It's the action part of the crime. So, when you actually reach into the cookie jar and take the cookie, that's the "actus reus" – the action you took.

Now, let's put it all together with "murder." Imagine someone really, really angry at someone else and they think, "I'm gonna hurt them." That thought is the "mens rea." Then, if they actually do something to hurt that person, like hitting them or worse, that's the "actus reus" – the action they took.

So, in "murder," the person not only thinks about hurting someone but actually goes ahead and does it. They might hurt them so badly that the other person dies. That's when it becomes "murder" because they had the bad thought (mens rea) and they did the bad thing (actus reus).

Remember, it's not just about doing something bad. It's about knowing it's bad and still doing it anyway. That's why both mens rea and actus reus are important when we talk about crimes like murder.