Before getting into the technical aspects of what is mens rea, I believe an example to get to the very core of this concept is in order. Let’s suppose you were walking into the living room with a lot of bags in your hands. In passing the staircase, while trying to balance all the parcels in your hand, you knocked down your brother’s glass trophy and broke it. Your brother comes home and is furious at you for breaking the trophy. He accuses you of being jealous, let’s say, and is convinced of you doing it on purpose. And you insist that you had no intention of doing it and that it was an honest mistake.

Now let’s understand the concept of mens rea through this. The mens rea definition literally means ‘guilty mind’ or a mind that has the intention of causing harm. There is a difference when an act of crime is committed with the intention and want of committing it and that which happens due to certain unavoidable circumstances. Mens rea means that a person had the intention of committing the crime, with the complete knowledge of the harm that it was going to cause and therefore it makes him guilty. Taking this example into perspective – here, you did not have the ‘intention’ of breaking your brother’s trophy and since you had no mens rea, you are not a ‘criminal’ in the right sense of the term.

Mens Rea and Actus Reus

An important aspect that goes hand in hand with what is mens rea is the concept of actus reus when it comes to determine criminal justice. Without one the other cannot exist. Actus reus is when there is a particular crime committed that results in harm. The concept of mens rea therefore stems from this concept, because without a crime, the ‘intention’ of that crime cannot be studied and analyzed. The common law states that the unlawful killing of a human (action=actus reus) happens either intentionally or unintentionally. If it happens with an intention of killing, it can be taken as mens rea (guilty mind). But if it happens unintentionally then it needs to be proved. Only then is it possible to extricate a person of the crime. READ MORE