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Mens Rea Argument Essay

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One day you are taking a stroll. The moon is out, the stars are bright and the air is calm. You decide that instead of continuing your walk, you want to head home. As you approach the crosswalk, you survey for incoming vehicles. The signal to walk blinks and you proceed. Everything is normal but then BOOM! All you remember is white flashing lights and heavy impact.
At the hospital you are told a drunk driver hit you and the collision lead to you become paralyzed from the waist down. Upon pressing charges you learn that the driver may not be prosecuted because of the Mens Rea law that constitutes the basis for a definable crime. Mens Rea thrives with the notion that a person is only guilty if they had the intention or knowledge of their crime, …show more content…
A heavy drink would result into an altered state of mind where you would not be able to control your behaviour. This is common knowledge. In our society, the intake of alcohol is not monitored, therefore it is up to the consumer to control how they drink. With this being said, the implications of a mishap would be none other than to blame than the consumer. For example, If a person were to drive a race car, they should be aware of the damage that a race car can do if it is misused. Yes it is legal to own and drive a race car, however you have to be able to control and use it in a moderate manner. If a person decides to use their race car to have an illegal competition and the event leads to a fatality, would you say it is not the drivers fault because they did not know they would kill someone? Or would you still hold the driver accountable because it is their negligence that lead to the unfortunate event? This applies to drunk driving. The driver should be aware of the consequences of drinking. They could have called a taxi to drive them, or could have gotten a friend to supervise. There should be no excuse for taking a life or injuring

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