many people are careless. At what point can such carelessness be deemed criminal negligence?

Answer 1

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 offence. It is defined as:

careless, inattentive, neglectful, willfully blind, or in the case of gross negligence what would have been reckless in any other defendant.

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 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' (see 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 wilful 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 wilful 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).

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:

1) subjective where the court attempts to establish what the accused was actually thinking at the time the actus reus was caused;
2) 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
3) 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.

Answer 2

People are injured all the time due to the carelessness of others. It is not often that simple human negligence can cross over into a criminal act, but it can happen. In most cases it would involve the person being aware of a hazard and knowingly not correcting it. For example, if you manufactured a product that proved to be harmful to people and you learned that & continued to sell the product, that could lead to criminal negligence. Also, if there are certain safety standards you are legally required to follow, such as when running a day care or adult foster care facility and you knowingly ignore them that could lead to criminal negligence. In general, if you are well aware that whatever you are doing can injure someone and you continue to to it, your negligence is more likely to be criminal as opposed to just simple carelessness.

Answer 3

Criminal Negligence....can only be criminal...if there's an intent to do whatever it is. It's considered an intentional tort when one does you harm intentionally. That doesn't mean bodily injury only. There are many different situations that can be seen as an intentional tort, such as slander, libel, nuisance, etc.

Answer 4

It depends. If they are driving along and drop their coffee look down and run someone over, they get charged with a misdemeanor. If they are taking care of a baby and don't feed it, they could get charged with neglect or child endangerment, that kind of thing. These are just two examples I just wanted to show that it depends on what specifically the person is doing. If you have something going on your best bet is to either call the police department or your local magistrates office.

Answer 5

that is a really good point and i think that you could get charged for negligence especially in the medical field

Answer 6

animal neglect - not feeding, cleaning, taking care of pets

child neglect - not feeding, cleaning, taking care of kids, not supervising them, which can lead to dangerous situations and therefore is a form of abuse

nursing homes - not taking care of elderly or handicapped people , allowing them to get sick or hurt becase of negligence

Answer 7

When someone gets hurt