Recklessness

Recklessness

1. Lower level mens rea to intention

2. It is the taking of an unjustified risk

3. Defendant realised the risk but decided to take it anyway

   • E.g Savage
     • Was the women aware of the risk when she threw the drink?

4. Recklessness can be applied to most offences

5. The explanation of the word recklessness comes from the case of cunningham

   • This offence involved the word 'malicious'
     • this indicates the mens rea required
   • RvG confirmed Cunningham recklessness
     • RvG suggest that Cunningham recklessness is now appplied to all cases of recklessness