With many crimes, intent itself plays a big role. The actions have to be taken intentionally for them to be illegal. Often, this is how these crimes are defined and intent is something that must be shown by the persecution to get a conviction. The act itself is not necessarily enough.
One example of this is arson. The FBI defines arson as a crime where someone decides to “willfully set“ a fire that then causes property damage or injury. If they did this intentionally, it is seen as a violent and destructive act, and they are criminally liable. They wanted to harm someone else and did so on purpose.
But this is much different than accidentally setting a fire. Someone may still be negligently liable for injuries that they caused if they were reckless and they accidentally caused the property to catch on fire. But they may not be criminally liable because they didn’t ever intend to start the fire and they never anticipated that outcome. It was just a mistake.
A crime of passion
Another example of intent playing a serious role is with murder charges. A defendant may claim that they were involved in a crime of passion. They reacted emotionally to an unexpected situation, and that reaction took another person’s life. But they claim that they should not be charged with murder because they never intended to take someone’s life, and there was no advance planning or premeditation before the act.
If you are facing charges, it is important to understand exactly what elements have to be shown for a conviction. You also need to know about all of your legal defense options.
