What Were You Thinking? The Role of Intent in Criminal Law

Introduction

Did you know that someone who performs a criminal act may still be found not guilty? This is because crimes require a criminal act together with a criminal state of mind (or the defendant’s “intent”). Since the purpose of criminal law is deterring crime, intent is an important requirement.  After all, an unintended, genuine accident is not deterred by criminal law. However, intentional law breaking can be deterred by criminal responsibility. Criminal intent also impacts sentencing. For example, if the defendant intended to grievously injure someone during their criminal act, then their sentence is likely higher. By contrast, if the defendant only intended to trespass during their criminal act, then their sentence is likely lower. Read on to learn more about criminal intent and the role it has in criminal law.

What Is Intent?

“Intent” refers to the state of mind of the defendant. Criminal intent is also known as the mens rea (meaning “guilty mind” in Latin). The foundation of a guilty mind in criminal law is that during the criminal act, the defendant displayed:

1. Intent, and/or

2. Gross negligence 

Intent means acting knowingly or deliberately to bring about the criminal result. Gross negligence means acting so recklessly or negligently that it demonstrates a disregard for life—reaching a level of criminal responsibility for the outcome. 

These two concepts—intent and criminal negligence—are the foundation you need to understand the ways intent is further broken down for different crimes. Modern criminal laws categorize intent as:

Type of Intent	Definition	Example Crime(s)
General Intent	Intent to commit the act	Assault Battery
Specific Intent	Intent to cause a specific outcome	Fraud (intent to defraud) Attempt (intent to complete the crime)
Purposely	Intending to cause a particular result	Theft (to permanently deprive)
Knowingly	Knowledge that a result is likely to occur	Voluntary manslaughter
Willfully	Acting purposely/knowingly, with moral turpitude	Fraud
Recklessly	Unjustified disregard of a known risk	Voluntary manslaughter
Negligently	Creation of a risk, and unreasonable ignorance of the risk	Involuntary manslaughter
Malice Aforethought (Express)	Intending to kill another person	Murder
Malice Aforethought (Implied)	Acting so recklessly or negligently as to display a disregard for human life	Murder while playing Russian Roulette Felony murder

As you may have noticed, some of these intent categories overlap. This is why it is helpful to remember the foundation of criminal intent: acting with intention, or acting with a criminal level of negligence. The subcategories of intent fall under this criteria.

Exception To The Rule

So far, you have learned that every crime requires an act and intent concurring at the same time. However, there is an exception to this rule: strict liability crimes. Strict liability crimes have no mens rea element. For a strict liability crime: act + result = guilty verdict. Traffic offenses are examples of strict liability crimes. It does not matter if a defendant had knowledge of the speed limit; if they broke the speed limit, then they are liable. Other examples include statutory rape, some environmental offenses, and selling alcohol or tobacco to minors. 

Intent Can Be Transferred

A final consideration is transferred intent. This refers to when a defendant harms a different person than they intended. For instance, imagine that Jane intended to batter Joe, but Joe ducked to avoid Jane’s punch. Since Joe ducked, Jane hit the person standing behind him, a man named Dale. Due to transferred intent, Jane’s intent to harm Joe can be transferred to Dale. Jane will still be liable for battery.

Conclusion

In sum, this was an overview of criminal intent, a key element of every crime (with the exception of strict liability crimes). Aside from strict liability crimes, every crime must have the elements of an act, in concurrence with intent. Intent can take on many forms—from general to specific to kinds of negligent behavior. Some crimes also require a fourth element, causation and harm, which is explored in this article on our website. To learn more about the elements of crimes, you may visit our Criminal Elements article.