mens rea

plural mentes reae

1. generalhuman sciencesA reactive mind, a conscious knowing by the individual that an act was committed, either by oneself or by another.
2. lawA guilty mind, the conscious knowing of a perpetrator while committing an act that the act is illicit.

   The individual mentes reae of the joint perpetrators have to be considered separately.

   2016, Dennis J. Baker, Reinterpreting Criminal Complicity and Inchoate Participation Offences, page 174

   4 more examples

   As a general rule the act (or omission) causing death and the relevant mens rea must occur at the same time. The most obvious application of this rule to exclude liability is the case where the mens rea is formed after the actus reus has taken place.

   2006, David Lanham, David Wood, Bronwyn Bartal, Rob Evans, Criminal Laws in Australia, page 198

   The criminal offences not requiring a mens rea proof for convictions are then specifically indicated in the legislature as being under “strict liability.”

   2007, Nikolaj Nottelmann, Blameworthy Belief: A Study in Epistemic Deontologism, page 10

   The majority of serious criminal offences require, in addition to the actus reus, a specific state of mind on the part of the accused, usually referred to as the mens rea. Many less serious crimes require no mens rea, but simply proof that the defendant caused the prohibited harm.

   2011, Jonathan Herring, Criminal Law, 7th edition, page 67

   In “Winner,” [Susanna] Fogel dramatizes, onscreen, Reality [Winner]’s mens rea, showing the elaborate details of her plan to print, purloin, and disclose the relevant pages of the Russia file—and the combination of forethought and improvisation on which the plan’s success depends.

   2024 September 11, Richard Brody, ““Winner” Takes Political Comedy Seriously”, in The New Yorker