Write 6 pages thesis on the topic murder analysis. Outside Gordon sees Thomas laughing with his friends. He walks over to Thomas and proceeds to repeatedly punch, kick, and stamp on him shouting “I’ll teach you a lesson stupid!” Later Thomas dies in hospital of severe head injuries.

The term actus reus refers to the act of the accused which when combined with either intention on the part of the accused or recklessness causes crime to be committed. The actus reus for an offense will alter depending on the crime committed. On a charge of murder or manslaughter, the actus reus for the offense would be the action that led to the death of the victim. It&nbsp.is therefore the external element of the crime. The actus reus for an offense is fairly easy to distinguish and in the situation above the punching, kicking, and stamping on the victim would be the actus reus of the offense.

Men’s rea translates as the ‘guilty mind’. The men’s rea element of the offense is the fault element of the crime. As with the actus reus, the men’s rea for an offense is also specific to the crime committed. The original definition of the men’s rea for murder can be found in Coke’s Institutes, in which Sir Edward Coke stated that murder is,

When a man of sound memory and the age of discretion, unlawfully killeth within any country of the realm any reasonable creature in rerum natura under the King’s Peace, with malice aforethought, so as the party wounded, or hurt…, die of the wound or hurt, … within a year and a day after the same.

From the above, it can be observed that the men’s rea for the offense requires the accused to demonstrate malice aforethought. Changes through legislation and case law have aided in the modification of the requirement of malice aforethought such that the prosecution is now only under a duty to prove that there was an intention to kill or to cause serious bodily harm. The intention is a subjective test reliant on what the jury considers the defendant would have foreseen as a consequence of his actions.