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Substantive Branch Of Crime Essay

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The substantive branch of criminal law is responsible for defining crime. Every crime contains physical and mental elements that must be present for a crime to have legally occurred. If any component, physical or mental, is not able to be proven, the criminal suspect will be exonerated. The mental and physical elements that legally constitute a crime must be present at the same time. It must also be proven that the suspect was the cause of the crime and, of course, that an actual crime was committed. These elements are extremely important factors in determining whether a suspect is guilty or innocent.
The physical elements of a crime involve the criminal act, or actus reus. The failure to act can also be considered criminal behavior in certain circumstances, such as child neglect. The criminal act must also be willingly committed by the suspect. If a criminal act has been willingly …show more content…

For example, if an individual is speeding and hits a person crossing the street that is not on a designated cross-walk, the driver is considered criminally negligible for their actions. Although they did not intentionally hit the pedestrian, they were not abiding by the speed limit and therefore their careless actions caused the accident. Criminal negligence does not excuse an individual’s actions and they are still considered legally liable, but it is less serious than recklessness because the individual did not intentionally risk the lives of others, they simply did not foresee the possible dangers that could occur because of their actions. The failure to foresee the consequences is the hardest element to prove in criminal negligence because the it implies that the individual had a brief loss of common sense. The driver, for instance, should know that, by speeding, one’s time to react to certain situations may not be adequate enough to prevent an

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