Diluting Mens Rea: The Rise Of Strict Liability In White-Collar Crime
- IJLLR Journal
- 1 hour ago
- 1 min read
Anjali Jayant, Student, Quantum University Roorkee, Uttarakhand, India
Aditi Mishra, Assistant Professor, Quantum University Roorkee, Uttarakhand, India
ABSTRACT
The present study is aimed at analyzing the importance of the concept of mens rea in socio-economic and corporate crimes in the contemporary times. Traditionally, criminal laws have been guided by the necessity of having the existence of mens rea along with physical act in relation to the commission of crime. But with the passing of time, it has become highly difficult to prove mens rea for many offenses due to changes in socio-economic conditions. Consequently, there has been an increasing importance of strict liability to regulate such acts that have public interest objectives.
With the help of the doctrinal research approach, the present researcher carries out a study on the legal statutes, judicial decisions, and literatures concerning socio-economic crimes such as money laundering, cyber crimes, and identity theft with the intention of finding the importance of switching over to strict liability from mens rea. It is observed from the present analysis that while strict liability is helpful in regulating socio-economic offenses, yet its excesses could influence the ethical dimension of criminal law.
Keywords: Mens Rea, Strict Liability, White Collar Crimes, Criminal Liability.
