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Casebook Read Credits
Criminal Law
Section 5 . 2 . 2
19 minutes

Mens Rea

Sam Kamin,
Dana Lindenberg

As in other areas of criminal law, actus reus and mens rea work hand in hand here. The actus reus shows us that the defendant is not just thinking about or planning to commit a crime, but actively working to do so. It also helps satisfy us that he has a sufficiently culpable mental state to be convicted of the attempt. Exactly how we define that mental state is the topic of this section.

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