Criminal Attempts Essay

Attempts essay

“The criminal attempts act 1981 was intended to improve the law on attempts. The extent to which it has succeeded is open to doubt”.

Critically evaluate the accuracy of this statement.

If a defendant fully intends to commit a crime but for some reason fails to complete the actus reus, the law on attempts is available to ensure that they can be prosecuted. The rationale behind the law is that those who plan to commit an offence but fail deserve to be punished and its existence means that if the police are aware that an offence is going to be committed, they do not have to wait until it is complete before arresting the suspects. If the defendant is found guilty, they will usually face the same maximum penalty that applies to the full offence. This is originally developed by common law, but since 1981 the law on attempts is contained in the Criminal Attempts Act (CAA) which is a codifying statute. S.1 (1) of CAA provides a definition of attempt in terms of actus reus and mens rea, which is the intention to commit the full offence. There are in total 3 stages to criminal offences, the first is preparation, second is the actual attempt, and the third is the full offence, which is never completed under this offence.

One way which the law could be seen to be improved is the rational for prosecuting those who attempt to commit offences; this is because there is an obvious need to stop criminal behaviour before harm is caused and most importantly to protect the public. Another important point is that the defendants can actually be convicted, the defendants have the full mens rea for the offence so they are just as dangerous as someone who does complete the full offence, for example in white he had the full intention to kill his mother by putting poison in her drinks, however it wasn’t enough to actually her, this is why it’s essential and its justified to convict such dangerous individuals. However it can be seen as problematic in one area of the law...