| | Negligence Law (Site not responding. Last check: 2007-10-07) |
 | | In the realm of criminal common law, criminal negligence is a legal term of art for a state of mind which is careless, inattentive, neglectful, willfully blind, or reckless; it is the ''mens rea'' part of a crime which, if occurring simultaneously with the ''actus reus'', gives rise to criminal liability. |
 | | Some distinguish recklessness from negligence; recklessness is a 'malfeasance' that increases the danger of an act occurring; whereas criminal negligence is a 'misfeasance or 'nonfeasance,'merely allowing otherwise avoidable dangers to manifest. |
 | | Gross criminal negligence is behaviour which involves a "wanton disregard for human life." Of course, in all these cases if the actus reus or bad act never occurs then there is no crime as both elements are necessary under the criminal common law to sustain a guilty conviction. |
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