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LEGAL
TIPS
DUI - DWI - ODWI? :
Unlike DUI, DWI, or OWUI cases that involve alcohol, there is generally no per se or legal limit that is employed for persons accused of driving under the influence of prescription medication or illicit drugs (although this is not the case in Ohio[citation needed]). Instead, the key inquiry focuses on whether the driver's faculties were impaired by the substance that was consumed. The detection and successful prosecution of drivers impaired by prescription medication or illegal drugs can therefore be difficult.
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Legal Term "CRIMINAL NEGLIGENCE" |
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 In the criminal law, criminal negligence is one of the three general classes of mens rea (Latin for "guilty mind") element required to constitute a conventional as opposed to strict liability offense. It is defined as
- careless, inattentive, neglectful, willfully blind, or in the case of gross negligence, recklessness in any other defendant.
Discussion
To constitute a crime, there must be an actus reus (Latin for "guilty act") accompanied by the mens rea (see concurrence). Negligence shows the least level of culpability, intention or omission),
where the fault lies in the failure to foresee and so allow otherwise
avoidable dangers to manifest. In some cases, this failure can rise to
the level of willful blindness where the individual intentionally avoids
adverting to the reality of a situation (note that in the United States, there may sometimes be a slightly different interpretation for willful blindness). The degree of culpability is determined by applying a reasonable person
standard. Criminal negligence becomes "gross" when the failure to
foresee involves a "wanton disregard for human life" (see the
discussion in corporate manslaughter),
being the most serious and recklessness of intermediate seriousness,
overlapping with gross negligence. The distinction between recklessness
and criminal negligence lies in the presence or absence of foresight as
to the prohibited consequences. Recklessness is usually described as a malfeasance, where the defendant knowingly exposes another to the risk
of injury. The fault lies in being willing to run the risk. But
criminal negligence is a misfeasance or nonfeasance.
The test of any mens rea element is always based on an
assessment of whether the accused had foresight of the prohibited
consequences and desired to cause those consequences to occur. The
three types of test are:
- subjective where the court attempts to establish what the accused was actually thinking at the time the actus reus was caused;
- objective where the court imputes mens rea elements on the basis that a reasonable person with the same general knowledge and abilities as the accused would have had those elements; or
- hybrid, i.e. the test is both subjective and objective.
The most culpable mens rea elements will have both foresight
and desire on a subjective basis. Negligence arises when, on a
subjective test, an accused has not actually foreseen the potentially
adverse consequences to the planned actions, and has gone ahead,
exposing a particular individual or unknown victim to the risk of
suffering injury or loss. The accused is a social danger because he or
she has endangered the safety of others in circumstances where the
reasonable person would have foreseen the injury and taken preventive
measures. Hence, the test is hybrid.
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DUI
& Driving Under The Influence:
DUI Attorney General :
Attorney General Troy King said he had considered appealing the ruling to the state Supreme Court but that the appellate court's findings made an appeal unlikely to succeed. Instead, King will ask the Legislature next year to change the law.
Don't Get Convicted :
Alexandria, 22, of Clanton, Alabama: First conviction, three years' formal probation, $2,323 fine, seven days in jail, first-offender drinking-driver program, driver's license restricted.
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