What are the elements of a criminal offence?

When deciding whether or not someone is guilty of a criminal offence, the Court will look for three elements: actus reus or a 'guilty act', mens rea or a 'guilty mind', and novus actus interveniens or the lack of an 'intervening act'. Firstly, an actus reus is an act that was committed by the defendant that caused the crime to occur. So for example, if the defendant were to shoot someone with a gun and that person died, the actus reus would be the firing of that gun at the other person. Mens rea then considers the defendant's state of mind at the time - what he was thinking and what he was trying to do. Mens rea can include intention to commit the guilty act, but can also include things such as being reckless as to whether the consequence might occur, or even negligent in their duty to ensure it doesn't. To continue with the gun example, if the defendant didn't mean to shoot the other person, but was instead just being reckless and wild with a loaded gun, it would affect what crime he might actually be charged and found guilty of. Finally, the Court will seek to find that there is no evidence of an 'intervening act'. An 'intervening act' can be anything that is considered to break the link between what the defendant did and the end consequence. This can include many different things, but a common example is negligent medical care. If the man shot in our example were taken to hospital in a stable condition, but his treatment was so terrible that he died of something almost entirely unrelated to the gunshot wound itself, then the Court may find that the defendant's act simply did not lead to the man's death. It's important to note that there are also defences to criminal offences, such as self-defence or being forced to do something (known as duress) but these are considered outside the elements of a criminal offence. So in summary, a criminal offence has three elements: actus reus ('guilty act'), mens rea ('guilty mind') and novus actus interveniens (the lack of an intervening act), and all three must be present for the Court to find someone guilty.