According to Mr. Ashurov, a criminal lawyer in Toronto, law is a system of rules imposed by a country to regulate the citizens’ actions, and that when broken people are charged penalties. Criminal law is set to punish any behavior that causes an injury to people or property. It is under the category of public law.
When a person breaks a criminal law, they are said to have committed a crime. A crime mainly has two parts; the action, which is the crime committed, and the intent. For a person to be found guilty, both the action and the intent must be proven. This is because according to Mr. Ashurov, a criminal lawyer in Toronto, some actions happen by accident. In a case where one of these elements is missing, then there is no crime committed.
1. Principles of Criminal Law
- Presumption of innocence
The accused remains innocent until they are proven guilty
- Burden of proof
The attorney remains with the responsibility of proving the accused guilty and not the defense.
- Beyond a reasonable doubt
This is a term used when proving that the accused is guilty. If the prosecutor announces that the accused is guilty, they should be guilty without any doubt. If there is doubt of the jurisdiction, then the accused remains innocent.
2. Types of Crime
There are three main categories of criminal offences. The smallest crimes are not severe, and they are called summary conviction offences. These have a light punishment of a sentence of not more than six months or pay a fine. The next category is the indictable offence. These crimes can have you serving a life sentence in prison or pay huge fines.
Offences that would be described as a summary of indictable are called dual or hybrid. There are hybrid offences which can lead to the prosecuted paying more considerable penalties. This happens if the crime caused bodily harm. These offences are divided into categories because some cause significant harm to the victim or society. Another reason is that some of the crimes are considered unaccepted, and the third reason is that some offences affect property while others affect people.
3. Elements of a Crime
According to Mr. Ashurov, one of the general principles of criminal law is that there must be proof of the physical act and the guilty mind for the accused to be proven guilty. Until these two are there, then it is not a crime.
- Actus Reus
It is the physical act of committing a crime, and sometimes it can be a failure to act of the state of being. An example of this will be if a person is found with an illegal weapon. This crime could fall under the state of being. On the other hand, if a parent does not provide the kids’ basic needs, that is an omission according to Mr. Ashurov.
Prove of the physical element here takes more than determining the action. It is crucial to consider the four Cs, which are Conduct, Consequences, circumstance and causation. The previous description of the act and conduct must be in line. The results of the crime which could be death or injury are the consequence.
The court must also look into the circumstances under which the crime occurred. Causation means that the conduct of the accused should be the one that caused the consequences.
- Mens Rea
According to Mr. Ashurov, there are two critical elements in a crime: the physical act, and the guilty mind. The latter is the intention the accused had when committing the crime. The two types of intentions are specific and general. If the accused keeps using the phrases `with intent` and `for the purpose`, the intentions of the crime are specific.
General intent crimes are committed in times where a person has uncontrollable aggression. The other kind of intent is recklessness. An example of this can be dangerous driving that leads to an accident and deaths. One may commit a crime without the plan of committing it, like hitting an animal on the road, but if it is found that they were over speeding, that can be termed as recklessness.
