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Intoxication Defense
In criminal law, the intoxication defense is a defense (legal), defense by which a defendant may claim diminished responsibility on the basis of substance intoxication. Where a crime requires a certain mental state (''mens rea'') to break the law, those under the influence of an intoxicating substance may be considered to have reduced legal liability, liability for their actions. With regard to punishment, intoxication may be a mitigating factor that decreases a prison or jail sentence. Numerous factors affect the applicability of the defense. Variation Society, Societies have varied in their attitudes and Norm (social), cultural standards regarding public Substance intoxication, intoxication, historically based on the relationship between religion and drugs in general, and religion and alcohol in particular. In some instances, consumption of a psychoactive drug, mind-altering substance has formed the basis of religion, religious or other socially approved ceremonies and festiv ...
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Criminal Law
Criminal law is the body of law that relates to crime. It proscribes conduct perceived as threatening, harmful, or otherwise endangering to the property, health, safety, and Well-being, welfare of people inclusive of one's self. Most criminal law is established by statute, which is to say that the laws are enacted by a legislature. Criminal law includes the punishment and Rehabilitation (penology), rehabilitation of people who violate such laws. Criminal law varies according to jurisdiction, and differs from Civil law (common law), civil law, where emphasis is more on dispute resolution and victim compensation, rather than on punishment or Rehabilitation (penology), rehabilitation. Criminal procedure is a formalized official activity that authenticates the fact of commission of a crime and authorizes punitive or rehabilitative treatment of the Criminal, offender. History The first Civilization, civilizations generally did not distinguish between Civil law (area), civil law and ...
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Aggravation (law)
Aggravation, in law, is "any circumstance attending the commission of a crime or tort which increases its guilt or enormity or adds to its injurious consequences, but which is above and beyond the essential constituents of the crime or tort itself". Aggravated assault, for example, is usually differentiated from simple assault by the offender's intent (e.g., to murder or to rape), the extent of injury to the victim, or the use of a deadly weapon. An aggravating circumstance is a kind of attendant circumstance and the opposite of an extenuating or mitigating circumstance, which decreases guilt. In the UK, the Criminal Justice Act 2003 requires a court to consider (a) relevant previous convictions, (b) racial or religious aggravation, and (c) hostility towards the victim or to persons generally based on sexual orientation (or presumed sexual orientation) or disability (or presumed disability) when determining sentence for a conviction. The antonym of aggravation is mitigati ...
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Model Penal Code
The Model Penal Code (MPC) is a model act designed to stimulate and assist U.S. state legislatures to update and standardize the penal law of the United States.MPC (Foreword). The MPC was a project of the American Law Institute (ALI), and was published in 1962 after a ten-year drafting period. The chief reporter on the project was Herbert Wechsler, and contributors included Sanford Kadish and numerous other noted criminal law scholars, prosecutors, and defense lawyers.Wechsler (1952)Dubber (2015, pp. 7-10). The ALI performed an examination of the penal system in the U.S. and the prohibitions, sanctions, excuses, and authority used throughout in order to arrive at a cohesive synthesis to the extent possible, and the best rules for the penal system in the United States. Primary responsibility for criminal law lies with the individual states, which over the years led to great inconsistency among the various state penal codes. The MPC was meant to be a comprehensive criminal ...
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Strict Liability
In criminal and civil law, strict liability is a standard of liability under which a person is legally responsible for the consequences flowing from an activity even in the absence of fault or criminal intent on the part of the defendant. Under the strict liability law, if the defendant possesses anything that is inherently dangerous, as specified under the "ultrahazardous" definition, the defendant is then strictly liable for any damages caused by such possession, no matter how carefully the defendant is safeguarding them. In the field of torts, prominent examples of strict liability may include product liability, abnormally dangerous activities (e.g., blasting), intrusion onto another's land by livestock, and ownership of wild animals. Other than activities specified above (like ownership of wild animals, etc), US courts have historically considered the following activities as "ultrahazardous": # storing flammable liquids in quantity in an urban area # pile driving # bl ...
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Driving Under The Influence
Driving under the influence (DUI) is the crime of driving, operating, or being in control of a vehicle while one is impaired from doing so safely by the effect of either alcohol (drug), alcohol (see drunk driving) or some other drug, whether recreational drug, recreational or prescription drug, prescription (see drug-impaired driving). Multiple other terms are used for the offense in various jurisdictions. Terminology The name of the offense varies from jurisdiction to jurisdiction and from legal to colloquial terminology. In various jurisdictions the offense is termed "driving under the influence" [of alcohol or other drugs] (DUI), "driving under the influence of intoxicants" (DUII), "driving while impaired" (DWI), "impaired driving", "driving while intoxicated" (DWI), "operating while intoxicated" (OWI), "operating under the influence" (OUI), "operating [a] vehicle under the influence" (OVI), "drunk in charge", or "over the prescribed limit" (OPL) (in the UK). Alcohol-related ...
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Recklessness (law)
In criminal law and in the law of tort, recklessness may be defined as the state of mind where a person deliberately and unjustifiably pursues a course of action while consciously disregarding any risks flowing from such action. Recklessness is less culpable than malice, but is more blameworthy than carelessness. ''Mens rea'' and ''actus reus'' To commit a criminal offence of ''ordinary'' liability (as opposed to strict liability) the prosecution must show both the ''actus reus'' (guilty act) and ''mens rea'' (guilty mind). A person cannot be guilty of an offence for his actions alone; there must also be the requisite intention, knowledge, recklessness, or criminal negligence at the relevant time. In the case of negligence, however, the ''mens rea'' is implied. Criminal law recognizes recklessness as one of four main classes of mental state constituting ''mens rea'' elements to establish liability, namely: *Intention: intending the action; foreseeing the result; desiring t ...
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Sharia
Sharia, Sharī'ah, Shari'a, or Shariah () is a body of religious law that forms a part of the Islamic tradition based on Islamic holy books, scriptures of Islam, particularly the Quran, Qur'an and hadith. In Islamic terminology ''sharīʿah'' refers to immutable, intangible divine law; contrary to ''fiqh'', which refers to its interpretations by Ulama, Islamic scholars. Sharia, or fiqh as traditionally known, has always been used alongside urf, customary law from the very beginning in Islamic history; has been elaborated and developed over the centuries by fatwa, legal opinions issued by mufti, qualified jurists – reflecting the tendencies of Schools of Fiqh, different schools – and integrated and with various economic, penal and administrative laws issued by Muslims, Muslim rulers; and implemented for centuries by Qadi, judges in the courts until recent times, when secularism was widely adopted in Islamic societies. Traditional Principles of Islamic jurisprudence, theory o ...
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Liquid Courage
Dutch courage, also known as pot-valiance or liquid courage, refers to courage gained from intoxication with alcohol. Uses Criminal Alcohol is occasionally used by criminals as a tool to commit alcohol-related offenses. These may include alcohol-facilitated sexual assaults, drunk driving, thefts (for example motor vehicle thefts), or alcohol-fueled robberies and violent crimes. However, Dutch courage defense is not a valid intoxication defense. Consuming alcohol prior to visiting female sex workers is a common practice among some men. Also, sex workers often resort to using drugs and alcohol to cope with stress. However, female sex workers in low- and middle-income countries have high rates of harmful alcohol use, which is associated with increased risk of unprotected sex and sexually transmitted infections. Hookup culture Alcohol use among college students is often used as "liquid courage" in the hookup culture, for them to make a sexual advance in the first plac ...
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Brandy
Brandy is a liquor produced by distilling wine. Brandy generally contains 35–60% alcohol by volume (70–120 US proof) and is typically consumed as an after-dinner digestif. Some brandies are aged in wooden casks. Others are coloured with caramel colouring to imitate the effect of ageing, and some are produced using a combination of ageing and colouring. Varieties of wine brandy can be found across the winemaking world. Among the most renowned are Cognac and Armagnac from south-western France. In a broader sense, the term ''brandy'' also denotes liquors obtained from the distillation of pomace (yielding pomace brandy), or mash or wine of any other fruit ( fruit brandy). These products are also called '' eau de vie'' (literally "water of life" in French). History The origins of brandy are tied to the development of distillation. While the process was known in classical times, it was not significantly used for beverage production until the 15th century. In the e ...
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Intoxication In English Law
Intoxication in English law is a circumstance which may alter the capacity of a defendant to form mens rea, where a charge is one of specific intent, or may entirely negate mens rea where the intoxication is involuntary. The fact that a defendant is intoxicated in the commission of a crime — whether voluntarily or not — has never been regarded as a full defence to criminal proceedings (unlike statutory defences such as self defence). Its development at common law has been shaped by the acceptance that intoxicated individuals do not think or act as rationally as they would otherwise, but also by a public policy necessity to punish individuals who commit crimes. Voluntary intoxication The Earl of Birkenhead stated in 1920 that until the early 19th century voluntary drunkenness was never a defence, based on the principle that "a man who by his own voluntary act debauches and destroys his will power shall be no better situated in regard to criminal acts than a sober man". This ...
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Dutch Courage
Dutch courage, also known as pot-valiance or liquid courage, refers to courage gained from intoxication with alcohol. Uses Criminal Alcohol is occasionally used by criminals as a tool to commit alcohol-related offenses. These may include alcohol-facilitated sexual assaults, drunk driving, thefts (for example motor vehicle thefts), or alcohol-fueled robberies and violent crimes. However, Dutch courage defense is not a valid intoxication defense. Consuming alcohol prior to visiting female sex workers is a common practice among some men. Also, sex workers often resort to using drugs and alcohol to cope with stress. However, female sex workers in low- and middle-income countries have high rates of harmful alcohol use, which is associated with increased risk of unprotected sex and sexually transmitted infections. Hookup culture Alcohol use among college students is often used as "liquid courage" in the hookup culture, for them to make a sexual advance in the first pl ...
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Strict Liability (criminal)
In criminal law, strict liability is liability for which ( Law Latin for "guilty mind") does not have to be proven in relation to one or more elements comprising the ("guilty act") although intention, recklessness or knowledge may be required in relation to other elements of the offense ( Preterintentionally /ultraintentional /versari in re illicita). The liability is said to be strict because defendants could be convicted even though they were genuinely ignorant of one or more factors that made their acts or omissions criminal. The defendants may therefore not be culpable in any real way, i.e. there is not even criminal negligence, the least blameworthy level of . Strict liability laws were created in Britain in the 19th century to improve working and safety standards in factories. Needing to prove on the part of the factory owners was very difficult and resulted in very few prosecutions. The creation of strict liability offenses meant that convictions were increased. Com ...
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