Includes bibliographical references index.

Conspiring to commit a crime is a criminal offence. Under the current law, when two or more persons plot a crime they can be arrested at the planning stage, regardless of whether the crime is ultimately committed. Attempting to commit a crime is also an offence, but only if the perpetrator commits an act which is a "more than merely preparatory" step towards the commission of the offence itself. This consultation paper examines these two areas of criminal law. With conspiracy, conviction is dependent on it being proved that the perpetrator actually knows that the crime will be committed. With criminal attempt the uncertain character of the law leaves too much doubt in cases where common sense suggests that the accused is guilty. The law's definition of "preparatory" has become too generous to the accused. The Commission puts forward 21 proposals for consultation (which closes on 31 January 2008). The proposals should be considered in light of the recommendations made in the Commission's 2006 report "Inchoate liability for assisting and encouraging crime" (Cm. 6878, Law Com. No. 300, ISBN 9780101687829).

The Criminalization series arose from an interdisciplinary investigation into criminalization, focussing on the principles that might guide decisions about what kinds of conduct should be criminalized, and the forms that criminalization should take. Developing a normative theory of criminalization, the series tackles the key questions at the heart of the issue: what principles and goals should guide legislators in deciding what to criminalize? How should criminal wrongs be classified and differentiated? How should law enforcement officials apply the law's specifications of offences? This, the fifth book in the series, offers a historical and conceptual account of the development of the modern criminal law in England and as it has spread to common law jurisdictions around the world. The book offers a historical perspective on the development of theories of criminalization. It shows how the emergence of theories of criminalization is inextricably linked to modern understandings of the criminal law as a conceptually distinct body of rules, and how this in turn has been shaped by the changing functions of criminal law as an instrument of government in the modern state. The book is structured in two main parts. The first traces the development of the modern law as a distinct, and conceptually distinct body of rules, looking in particular at ideas of jurisdiction, codification and responsibility. The second part then engages in detailed analysis of specific areas of criminal law, focusing on patterns of criminalization in relation to property, the person, and sexual conduct.

We are said to face a crisis of over-criminalization: our criminal law has become chaotic, unprincipled, and over-expansive. This book proposes a normative theory of criminal law, and of criminalization, that shows how criminal law could be ordered, principled, and restrained. The theory is based on an account of criminal law as a distinctive legal practice that functions to declare and define a set of public wrongs, and to call to formal public account those who commit such wrongs; an account of the role that such practice can play in a democratic republic of free and equal citizens; and an account of the central features of such a political community, and of the way in which it constitutes its public realm-its civil order. Criminal law plays an important, but limited, role in such a political community in protecting, but also partly constituting, its civil order. On the basis of this account, we can see how such a political community will decide what kinds of conduct should be criminalized - not by applying one or more of the substantive master principles that theorists have offered, but by considering which kinds of conduct fall within its public realm (as distinct from the private realms that are not the polity's business), and which kinds of wrong within that realm require this distinctive kind of response (rather than one of the other kinds of available response). The outcome of such a deliberative process will probably be a more limited, and a more rational and principled, criminal law.

Every managerial decision is risky, at least to some extent. Conducting business is impossible without venturing into new territories and even the most ordinary daily choices could turn out to be failures. Excessive risk, however, can be very detrimental as was starkly illustrated by the most recent financial crisis. By criminalising managers' excessive risk-taking criminal law enters a sphere which is at the core of the activity it affects. At the same time it provides for criminal punishment for courses of conduct that, without doubt, can be extremely harmful. The objective of this book is to examine existing criminalisation of excessive risk-taking as well as to analyse whether such criminalisation is desirable and if yes, under which conditions.

The purpose of this book is to find a unified approach to the doctrine of mens rea in the sphere of international criminal law, based on an in-depth comparative analysis of different legal systems and the jurisprudence of international criminal tribunals since Nuremberg. Part I examines the concept of mens rea in common and continental legal systems, as well as its counterpart in Islamic Shari'a law. Part II looks at the jurisprudence of the post-Second World War trials, the work of the International Law Commission and the concept of genocidal intent in light of the travaux préparatoires of the 1948 Genocide Convention. Further chapters are devoted to a discussion of the boundaries of mens rea in the jurisprudence of the International Criminal Tribunals for the former Yugoslavia and Rwanda. The final chapter examines the definition of the mental element as provided for in Article 30 of the Statute of the International Criminal Court in light of the recent decisions delivered by the International Criminal Court. The study also examines the general principles that underlie the various approaches to the mental elements of crimes as well as the subjective element required in perpetration and participation in crimes and the interrelation between mistake of law and mistake of fact with the subjective element. With a Foreword by Professor William Schabas and an Epilogue by Professor Roger Clark From the Foreword by William Schabas Mohamed Elewa Badar has taken this complex landscape of mens rea at the international level and prepared a thorough, well-structured monograph. This book is destined to become an indispensable tool for lawyers and judges at the international tribunals. From the Epilogue by Professor Roger Clark This is the most comprehensive effort I have encountered pulling together across legal systems the 'general part' themes, especially about the 'mental element', found in confusing array in the common law, the civil law and Islamic law. In this endeavour, Dr Badar's researches have much to offer us.

Many academic criminal lawyers and criminal law theorists seek to resolve the optimum conditions for a criminal law fit to serve a liberal democracy. Typical wish lists include a criminal law that intervenes against any given individual only when there is a reasonable suspicion that s/he has caused harm to the legally protected interests of another or was on the brink of doing so. Until there is conduct that gives rise to a reasonable suspicion of criminal conduct by an individual, s/he should be allowed to go about his or her business free from covert surveillance or other forms of intrusion. All elements of crimes should be proved beyond any reasonable doubt. Any punishment should be proportionate to the gravity of the wrongdoing and when the offender has served this punishment the account should be cleared and good standing recovered. Seeking Security explores the gap between the normative aspirations of liberal, criminal law scholarship and the current criminal law and practice of Anglophone jurisdictions. The concern with security and risk, which in large part explains the disconnection between theory and practice, seems set to stay and is a major challenge to the form and relevance of a large part of criminal law scholarship.

This volume presents a comparative examination of the issue of fault in criminal law. Extant law reveals significant problems in adoption of consistent approaches to doctrinal and theoretical underpinnings of fault liability and culpability thresholds in criminal law. This has been exemplified by a plethora of recent jurisprudential authorities revealing varying degrees of confusion and vacillation. This collection focuses on fault liability for inculpation with contributions from leading specialists from different jurisdictions presenting alternative perspectives. The book addresses three specific elements within the arena of fault, embracing an overarching synergy between them. This structure facilitates an examination of UK provisions, with specialist contributions on domestic law, and in contrasting these provisions against alternative domestic jurisdictions as well as comparative contributions addressing a particularised research grid for content. The comparative chapters provide a wider background of how other legal systems treat a variety of specialised issues relating to fault elements in the context of the criminal law. With contributions from leading experts in the field, the book will be an invaluable resource for researchers, academics, and practitioners working in this area.