Concepts (Criminal)

Question 1

What is the definition of justice (according to the Oxford English Dictionary)?

Answer 1

Just conduct; fairness

Question 2

What are the two types of justice?

Answer 2

Substantive and Procedural

Question 3

What is substantive justice?

Answer 3

Whether the rules/law itself is just

Question 4

What is procedural justice?

Answer 4

Whether the method in which the laws are made/how the legal system operates is just

Question 5

What are the 4 theories of justice?

Answer 5

Corrective justice, Natural law, Utilitarianism, Nozick’s minimal state

Question 6

What is corrective justice?

Answer 6

When justice is disturbed by wrongdoing, there must be something to restore that to its original position

Question 7

What is Natural law?

Answer 7

There is a higher law from God, if this is followed, there will be justice - man-made law should only be used to avoid social disorder

Question 8

What is utilitarianism?

Answer 8

A law can be just if it focusses on making the majority of people happy, regardless of the unhappy minority (promoting the greatest amount of happiness to the greatest amount of people)

Question 9

What is Nozick’s minimalist state?

Answer 9

To achieve a just society, intervention from the state should be kept to a minimum

Question 10

What are some ways to link to concept in terms of justice?

Answer 10

Looking at sentences, mens rea, specific rules, actus reus, side rules, definitions

Question 11

What is the definition of fault (according to the Oxford English Dictionary)?

Answer 11

Something wrongly done, a mistake, or blame

Question 12

What is the purpose of the UK having a fault-based legal system?

Answer 12

• It identifies the person’s responsibility and - Imposes punishment or sanctions
• The more at fault, the more the liability
• It is based on individual responsibility - a person should be responsible for the way they act

Question 13

What are some ways to link to the concept in terms of blame?

Answer 13

Having less fault (in terms of defenses), sentences being somewhat equal to crime, men’s rea

Question 14

What are the principles in formulating rules of criminal law?

Answer 14

Fair labelling, Correspondence, Maximum certainty, No retrospective liability

Question 15

What is Fair labelling?

Answer 15

The law should be made so that the elements of the offence are completely clear and should be fair that the punishment is proportionate to the crime

Question 16

What are examples of Fair labelling?

Answer 16

The categories of offences determine their seriousness (triable either way, indictable or summary), Description of crimes e.g Murder, ‘ the unlawful killing of a human being with intention to kill or cause GBH’

Question 17

What is Correspondence?

Answer 17

There should be a link between the actus reus and mens rea (The D’s conduct and it’s consequences)

Question 18

What is an example of Correspondence?

Answer 18

Theft, ‘Appropriation must be dishonest’

Question 19

What is Maximum certainty?

Answer 19

A person should be able to determine in advance whether their conduct is criminal or not - crimes must be defined precisely

Question 20

What are examples of Maximum certainty?

Answer 20

‘Grievous’ in GBH; grievous is not commonly used so reflects the nature of the crime rather than just use ‘serious’
‘Appropriation’ in Theft; appropriation is not commonly used so reflects the action needed rather than use ‘taking’

Question 21

What is No retrospective liability?

Answer 21

Where, if the unlawful conduct was lawful at the time, it is unfair to convict D of the offence and should only be carried out in the future

Question 22

What is an example of No retrospective liability?

Answer 22

R v R marital rape case, technical miscarriage of justice as marital rape was not seen as a crime and they went back to find him guilty