Specific intent Definition

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GLOSSARY

What does Specific intent mean?

Most crimes which require proof of 'intention', and other offences which require proof of special mental states, are offences of 'specific intent'.

Where 'intention' is the mens rea the offence will be one of 'specific intent' except where the intention 'applies to acts apart from their purposes', eg in the offence of sexual assault, contrary to s 3 of the Sexual Offences Act 2003, the touching must be intended but not its sexual character, which is a matter of objective judgment; therefore, this is not an offence of specific intent. Offences which do not require proof of an intention, but require proof of other special mental states, eg dishonesty, are offences of 'specific intent'. The important distinction between offences of 'specific' and 'basic' intent is that self-induced intoxication cannot be a defence to the latter.

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Specific and basic intent

Intention refers to the outcome sought by the defendant. Offences may be described as either ones of ‘basic intent’ or of ‘specific intent’. The Court of Appeal has described this distinction as ‘elusive’. The Court nevertheless provided the following definition of specific intent:‘Crimes of specific intent are those where the offence requires proof of purpose or consequence, which are not confined to, but amongst which are included, those where the purpose goes beyond the actus reus (sometimes referred to as cases of “ulterior intent”).’The Court also approved the reasoning that:‘[A] distinction is to be made between (i) intention as applied to acts considered in relation to their purposes and (ii) intention as applied to acts apart from their purposes. A general intent attending the commission of an act is, in some cases, the only intent required to constitute the crime while, in others, there must be, in addition to that general intent, a specific intent attending the purpose for the commission of the act.’Put simply, offences of specific intent require...

Attempt

A person is guilty of attempting to commit an offence if they do an act that is more than preparatory to the commission of the offence, with the intention of committing an offence. An attempt is an offence of specific intent. It requires an intention to commit an offence. The offence itself consists of both a criminal act and a mental state. In each case it is a question of fact whether the accused has gone sufficiently far towards the full offence to have committed the act of the attempt. If the accused has passed the preparatory stage the offence of attempt has been committed and it is no defence that they then withdrew from committing the completed offence.Most attempts at committing criminal offences will be governed by section 1 of the Criminal Attempts Act 1981 (CAA 1981), although some statutory exceptions apply. These include:•burglary under section 9(1)(b) of the Theft Act 1968 (TA 1968), and•using a firearm to resist arrest under section 17 of the Firearms Act 1968 (FiA...

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