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n preparatory. However such a reliance on confrontation and the blurry line between preparation and execution was precisely what the act had sought to improve.

The statute’s shift of focus onto the actus reus being more than just preparation/planning was said to widen the previous scope of proximate or ‘last act’. This was to prelude and reinforce the decision in Jones [10] in which the court said that “more than merely preparatory” was to have its regular meaning and in no way implied ‘last act.’ In this case the defendant was found to be guilty as he had pointed the gun at the victim and there was no need to show that he would still need to do subsequent acts such as cock the gun, aim, and pull the trigger. This is perfectly in line with the subjectivist idea that there is no need to wait until the crime is invariably close to being committed to punish it. Clearly the Criminal Attempts Act has helped establish that there be a wider (more subjectivist) encompassing idea of attempt which would apply to a greater range of criminal preparations.

The common law also seemed to leave a window open for the defense of abandonment. Such a case was brought up in Campbell [11] in which the police found a man loitering around the post office with the tools necessary for robbery. Upon arrest and conviction he defendant claimed that the had intended to rob the bank but had reconsidered. This idea of repentance and lack of execution was well received by the courts and thus they found him not guilty as he was in no position to commit the offence. Part of the Criminal Attempts Act’s goals is to make such objectivist ideas obsolete and make crimes of obvious intent and near execution that much more inchoate. Meaning, the statute would seek to overturn such a decision to a scenario closer to Toothill [12] where a burglar was arrested upon trying to enter the victim’s house and the court found that his entering as a trespasser and ringing the doorbell constituted execution of his plan to a degree meriting prosecution. This seems more in line with the idea of ‘substantial step’ [13] towards the execution of the plan and seems to be somewhat more encompassing while not quite in line with the subjectivist’s proposed ‘first act’ step which the Act subtly tried to reach for.

Improvements of Mens Rea Through the Criminal Attempts Act 1981

Before the introduction of the Criminal Attempts Act, common law was uncertain about the mens rea requirements for acts of attempt. There was questions about how stringent the mental element had to be. Prior to the establishment of this statute the mens rea required was very high and nothing less than intent was seen as essential. In Mohan [14] it was found that only specific intent was sufficient for attempt to be found and that a reckless state of mind would not suffice. The court held that even though the defendant sped up his driving upon nearing a police officer, it had to be shown that he wanted to cause grievous bodily harm, not merely that he realized he could and was reckless as to whether he would. Such a high standard of mental premeditation was reversed in Khan [15] where the courts rejected the defendant’s plea against his conviction of attempted rape. The court ruled that the mens rea for attempted rape and rape had to correspond and thus an intent to have sexual intercourse and recklessness as to whether the victim consents is enough to本论文由英语论文网提供整理，提供论文代写，英语论文代写，代写论文，代写英语论文，代写留学生论文，代写英文论文，留学生论文代写相关核心关键词搜索。