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Criminal Law Handbook 2019-20
Criminal Law (LW2220)
University of Leicester
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UNIVERSITY OF LEICESTER
CRIMINAL LAW (LW2220) 2019-20 MODULE HANDBOOK
SYLLABUS
The topics covered are
Criminalisation and punishment Constructing criminal liability Non-fatal offences against the person Sexual offences Property offences Homicide Inchoate offences (attempt) General defences
ASSESSMENT
You will have a formative (practice) essay to do over the Christmas vacation. This will be submitted via Turnitin.
The summative (final) assessment will be an open book unseen examination. You are only permitted to bring into the examination room your own notes and materials limited to one lever arch file. You will be expected to answer three questions in the examination: one essay, one problem and one free choice of either essay or problem.
TUTORIALS – PREPARATION AND OBJECTIVES
To prepare for tutorials you should look over your lecture notes and read all the material set at the top of each tutorial sheet. You will see that the reading for each tutorial is split into ‘Essential Reading’ and ‘Reading – in more depth’. The essential reading is an absolute requirement for the tutorial. The ‘in more depth’ selections have been carefully chosen to provide you with greater understanding of the topic through particular cases and articles. You will find your understanding of the topic will be greatly enhanced if you tackle the ‘in more depth’ reading selections too.
Further suggested readings can be found on the lecture handout and the reading list accessible via Blackboard. While it is desirable that you read as widely as possible on each topic it is not compulsory that the further literature be consulted before tutorials. However, the more reading you do in advance of tutorials, the more you will benefit from them. It is a mistake to leave the reading until revising for the exam.
The required reading for this module is Clarkson & Keating: Criminal Law (9th edn, Sweet & Maxwell 2017). The textbook Child and Ormerod, Smith & Hogan’s Essentials of Criminal Law (3rd edn, OUP 2019) is also helpful on the black letter law. The relevant pages from the Essentials is provided for each topic to assist students who wish to
consult that book, but you are not expected to read the Essentials and Clarkson & Keating.
Drawing on your reading, you should prepare answers to each question in note-form so that, if called upon, you will be able to answer the question. In relation to problem questions you should think of arguments for and against liability in each case so that you can argue against any answer given by another student. The object is that after one student has provided a solution to the problem or issue there will be discussion/debate over the points raised by that answer. You must remember that there is very seldom a right or wrong answer to the issues posed in the tutorial questions. If there were, there would be no appeals from judicial decisions and no dissenting judgements.
While you should prepare answers to every question set, not every question will be discussed in tutorials. Whether every question is dealt with is left to the discretion of the tutor. Remember that notes prepared for tutorials are useful for the open book exam.
Please remember that the best way of learning and understanding is through active participation - and that the more you contribute in tutorials the more benefit you will obtain from them and the more you will enjoy them. Tutorials start later this year (week commencing 21 st October) and this means that they will go on until the last week of term.
CHECKING YOUR UNDERSTANDING
After each tutorial it is suggested that you try each of the MCQ tests linked to that topic. The tests are drafted by Dr John Child, co-author of Smith and Hogan’s Essentials of Criminal Law. The questions can be accessed as many times as you like and used for revision purposes, but they will be most effective if you complete them for the first time after you have prepared for and attended a tutorial on each topic.
LECTURE MATERIALS
Slides, handouts and Panopto recordings for each lecture will be uploaded to Blackboard. Extracts from the statutory materials relevant to that topic will also be uploaded to Blackboard (so there will be no separate Statutory Materials book for you to purchase).
28
SK Homicide SKHomicide Property offences
29
SK Homicide SCInchoate
Property Offences
30 SCInchoate DBDefences
Murder/ Involuntary m/s/ Inchoate
31
DB Defences
DB Defences
Murder/ Involuntary m/s/ Inchoate
32 DBDefences DBDefences
Voluntary m/s/ General Defences (1)
33
DB Defences
SK Revision
Voluntary m/s/ General Defences (1)
34 SKRevision SKRevision
General Defences (2)
35
General Defences (2)
36
CRIMINALISATION AND PUNISHMENT
Essential reading Clarkson & Keating, Ch. 1 (This topic is also covered in Smith & Hogan's Essentials, Ch. 1)
Reading – in more depth Pamela Ferguson, ‘Smoke gets in your eyes...: the criminalisation of smoking in enclosed public places, the harm principle and the limits of the criminal sanction’ (2011) 31(2) Legal Studies 259
This topic is covered in week one lectures and Clarkson & Keating chapter 1. You need to read the Clarkson & Keating chapter during this first week as the material is discussed in essay questions throughout the year.
(If they are liable it would be for manslaughter; this will be dealt with later in the course. Do not concern yourself at this stage with why it would be manslaughter. You will need to revisit this question at a later date.)
- After your tutorial complete this MCQ: global.oup/uk/orc/law/criminal/child_ormerod2e/resources/mcqs/ch02/
TUTORIAL 2
BLAMEWORTHINESS AND MENS REA
Essential reading
Clarkson & Keating, paras 2-120 to 2-
(This topic is also covered in Smith & Hogan's Essentials, Ch. 3)
Reading – in more depth
Woollin [1999] 1 AC 82
Matthews & Alleyne [2003] EWCA Crim 193; [2003] 2 Cr App R 30
- Penny parks her car outside her house; the street is relatively narrow. She is in a hurry and without thinking, flings open her car door to get out. The door strikes a passing cyclist, damaging the bicycle and injuring the cyclist.
Discuss whether Penny has been reckless with regard to damage to the bicycle and the injury to the cyclist.
Would it make any difference if Penny was in such a hurry that she had deliberately not looked in the mirror because she thought it very unlikely anyone would be approaching and, if they were, she regarded it as their responsibility to look out for car doors being opened?
- Derek burns down his shop in order to collect the insurance money. He knows that there is a night watchman in the shop who usually sleeps throughout the night. He realises that if this is so he will perish in the fire. However, he hopes very much that the night watchman will be awake and thus avoid injury. The night watchman is asleep and is killed in the fire.
For the purposes of the law of murder, does Derek have an intention to kill?
- Be prepared to describe what is meant by cognitive and normative mens rea, and how these concepts relate to mens rea terms such as intention, recklessness and negligence. Have recent approaches by the judiciary and parliament preferred a more cognitive or normative approach to be taken to establishing blameworthiness (provide examples)?
In answering this question, consider why it is important to distinguish intention from recklessness?
- After your tutorial complete this MCQ (please note that the answer to question 10 will be addressed in the property offences lectures):
global.oup/uk/orc/law/criminal/child_ormerod2e/resources/mcqs/ch03/
TUTORIAL 4
SEXUAL OFFENCES
Essential reading
Clarkson & Keating, paras 7-088 to 7-
(This topic is also covered in Smith & Hogan's Essentials, Ch. 8)
Reading – in more depth
Jheeta [2007] EWCA Crim 1699; [2007] 2 Cr App R 34
Bree [2007] EWCA Crim 804; [2008] QB 131
- Barry (35) is the manager of a local bar. At the end of one night Barry invites a new member of bar staff – Jenny (18) - back to his flat so they can get to know each other a bit better. Jenny consumes a number of vodka and tonics. Concerned that Jenny is quite tense, Barry secretly slips an ‘ecstasy’ tablet into her final drink in order, as he sees it, to make her more relaxed. After consuming the last drink, Jenny feels very disorientated. When she finally regains her senses some time later she finds that she in a bed and that Barry is engaging in anal intercourse with her. She does not struggle as she feels too weak. Barry later claims that Jenny went into the bedroom voluntarily with him and therefore he thought she was consenting.
Discuss the criminal liability of Barry.
The White Paper which led to the Sexual Offences Act 2003 talked about “Clarifying the Law on Consent”. Discuss the extent to which the Act and case law under it has achieved that aim.
“The aim of sexual offences law should be to increase the number of convictions.”
Critically evaluate this statement.
- After your tutorial please complete this MCQ (leave Q6, Q7 and Q8 until after tutorial 7):
global.oup/uk/orc/law/criminal/child_ormerod2e/resources/mcqs/ch08/
TUTORIAL 5
PROPERTY OFFENCES
Essential reading
Clarkson & Keating, Ch.
(This topic is also covered in Smith & Hogan's Essentials, Ch. 9)
Reading – in more depth
Darroux [2018] EWCA Crim 1009; [2019] QB 33
JR Spencer, ‘Two cases on the law of theft: a concertina movement?’ [2018] 8 Arch Rev 4
- Desmond was shopping in a supermarket. He saw a kettle in a box with two price tickets on it. One, which was correct, stated £29; the other, which was on the opposite side of the box, stated £19. He presented the kettle at the checkout, pointing the £19 ticket at the cashier. He said nothing about the other ticket. The cashier, knowing that £29 was the correct price and suspecting (wrongly) that Desmond had himself stuck the cheaper ticket on, called the police. When questioned, Desmond admitted that he knew that £29 was the correct price, but said that he thought that when a shop made a mistake of this kind the customer was entitled to take advantage of it.
Discuss Desmond’s criminal liability.
- "The effect of Gomez and Hinks is that juries no longer have to consider difficult issues of civil law when deciding whether the defendant has appropriated property. However, it is neither desirable, nor is it possible to cut the law of theft completely adrift from the civil law of property."
Discuss
- One day Tamal saw Peter’s house advertised by an estate agent. Using a false name he made an appointment by telephone to see the house, pretending to be a prospective purchaser. His aim was to have a good look about the house to see if there was anything that might be worth taking on some subsequent occasion. While Peter was showing him round the bedrooms the telephone rang and Peter went downstairs to answer it. Tamal went into another bedroom, opened the drawer of the dressing table and rummaged about, looking for jewellery. He did not find anything worth taking at the time, but he did notice some valuable antique carpets. After being shown round the house he thanked Peter and left.
Two weeks later he went to Peter’s house. He carried a baseball bat with him ‘just in case’. While he was still outside he saw Peter and his wife leaving, dressed as if they were going out to dinner. Thinking that he would now have several hours while the house was unoccupied, he smashed a window and entered the house. While carrying a carpet to his van, parked outside, he saw Peter return. When Peter saw him he picked up his mobile phone and started to dial 999. Tamal pulled the cosh from his pocket and
TUTORIAL 6
MURDER, INVOLUNTARY MANSLAUGHTER & ATTEMPTS
Essential reading
Clarkson & Keating, paras 8-001 to 8-094 (murder and involuntary manslaughter)
Clarkson & Keating, paras 5-001 to 5-083 (attempts)
(These topics are also covered in Smith & Hogan's Essentials, Ch. 5 (murder), pp. 185- 200 (involuntary manslaughter), and pp. 425 – 442 (attempts))
Reading – in more depth
Stone & Dobinson [1977] QB 354
Adomako [1995] 1 AC 171
(The Ashworth article recommended for tutorial 1 is worth revisiting.)
- Ken decides to burn kill his wife by burning down her flat. He is apprehended by the police late at night approaching the front door with a can of petrol and a box of matches.
Discuss Ken’s criminal liability.
- Paul entered John’s house to see if there was any money he could steal. Not finding any, he decided to force open the gas meter in case it contained some. He found it empty, but in doing this he damaged it allowing gas to escape. Some hours later John returned home. As soon as he entered the house he switched on the electric light, and a spark from the switch ignited the gas. John was killed in the resulting explosion and his wife Katy was seriously burnt and was left with severe scars. Six months later she went into hospital for plastic surgery to her face. Tom, the anaesthetist, had been to a rugby club dinner the previous night and was very tired and suffering from a bad hangover. During the operation a pipe to the ventilator that supplied oxygen to the unconscious patient became detached. One of the nurses told Tom that Katy seemed to be having breathing difficulties and looked in a bad way. ‘She doesn’t look as bad as I feel’, replied Tom. By the time it was realised what had happened, Katy had suffered severe and irreversible brain damage and was declared dead.
Consider the criminal liability of Paul and Tom for the deaths of John and Katy. (This question is from a past examination paper.)
- “The current law of homicide, including the common law of murder and manslaughter as well as statutory homicide offences, relies too much on the role of luck in determining liability for death. The whole law of homicide should be reformulated to reduce the role that luck plays.”
Discuss the extent to which you agree with the above statement and consider how the law might be reformulated in accordance with it. Would the Law Commission’s recommendations resolve the problems?
Look back at question 2 from tutorial 1. How would you now structure your answer to this question? You need to start from the position of identifying what species of manslaughter might be relevant. (There will not be time to discuss this in class, but you will benefit from engaging in this exercise in your own time.)
After your tutorial please answer these MCQ:
global.oup/uk/orc/law/criminal/child_ormerod2e/resources/mcqs/ch05/
global.oup/uk/orc/law/criminal/child_ormerod2e/resources/mcqs/ch11/ (Only Q1, Q2 and Q3)
- “It is odd that one cannot consent to actual bodily harm in the course of sadomasochistic sexual activity, but is able to consent to the risk of grievous bodily harm in knowingly having sexual intercourse with an HIV-infected person”.
Drawing on this statement, discuss when, if ever, you think conduct should be criminalized despite the consent of the “victim”.
After your tutorial please answer this MCQ: global.oup/uk/orc/law/criminal/child_ormerod2e/resources/mcqs/ch06/
And Qs7 and 10 from this MCQ
global.oup/uk/orc/law/criminal/child_ormerod2e/resources/mcqs/ch07/
TUTORIAL 8
GENERAL DEFENCES (2)
Essential reading
Clarkson & Keating,
4-131 to 4-230 (duress and necessity)
4-238 to 4-297 (involuntary conduct inc insanity and automatism)
4-299 to 4-364 (intoxication and lack of age)
(These topics are also covered in Smith & Hogan's Essentials, Ch. 13 and 14)
Reading – in more depth
Graham [1982] 1 WLR 294
Hasan (also known as Z) [2005] UKHL 22; [2005] 2 AC 467
Heard [2007] EWCA Crim 125; [2008] QB 43
- Tina has a gambling habit which she is struggling to fund. She visits Boris (AKA ‘Knuckles’) a local loan shark, in the hope of getting a loan from him. Boris agrees to open a line of credit for Tina at his betting shop if she will accompany his colleagues when they visit other customers to collect debts. Tina agreed and for the next two months she accompanies Jeremy (AKA ‘Crusher’) and Tom (AKA ‘The Book’) as they visit Boris’ customers to encourage them to pay up. Tom reminds customers of the details of their debts as Jeremy lurks behind him intimidating and sometimes directly threatening violence. Tina would drive them from appointment to appointment.
Boris then tells Jeremy, Tom and Tina that one of his customers, Dave, has failed to pay up despite Jeremy and Tom’s visits. He tells them to set fire to the customer’s dry- cleaning shop the next day ‘to teach him a lesson’. Tina immediately tells Boris that she is unhappy doing this, but is told to get on with it or her partner, Debbie, would know what she’s been doing and they would both end up ‘six feet under’.
Tina went the next day to set fire to the dry-cleaner’s with Jeremy and Tom. Having lit the petrol they had poured through a back window, the shop quickly caught light. Dave escaped from the burning shop, but suffered 50% burns over his face, arms and chest.
Tina was horrified by the sight of Dave running burning from the shop and ran away from the scene. As the chemicals in the shop were caught by the fire there were explosions. A child, Alex, was walking with her mother and was so terrified by the explosions, she ran away, into the path of traffic. Tina saw that Alex was about to be hit by a car, ran into the road and pulled Alex out of the way. Alex fell awkwardly on the pavement and fractured her wrist.
Discuss Tina’s criminal liability for the injuries to Dave and Alex.
Criminal Law Handbook 2019-20
Module: Criminal Law (LW2220)
University: University of Leicester
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