Mens Rea and Actus Reus
For this assignment, examine the concepts of mens rea and actus reus as outlined in Chapter 2, of the Peak (2015) text. The Louisiana murder trial of Yoshihiro Hattori illustrated both actus reus and mens rea quite vividly. Read the following news articles detailing the 1992 Halloween killing of exchange student Yoshihiro Hattori:
- Jury Acquits Man Who Shot Japanese Youth: Crime: Panel Deliberates Only 3 Hours Before Clearing Louisiana Man. Victim’s Father Will Push Drive to Limit Availability of Guns in U.S. (Links to an external site.)Links to an external site.
- Clinton Meets Parents of Slain Japanese Student (Links to an external site.)Links to an external site.
- Defense Depicts Japanese Boy as ‘Scary’ (Links to an external site.)Links to an external site.
- Japanese Angered by U.S. Acquittal of Student’s Killer (Links to an external site.)Links to an external site.
Focusing on the conceptualization of actus reus and mens rea,
- Describe whether the court acted justly and/or legally in the acquittal of Rodney Peairs.
- Justify your personal opinions by referencing legal concepts or by building on theories outlined in the text.
Your paper must be at least 750 words in length (excluding title and references pages) and formatted according to APA style as outlined in the Ashford Writing Center (Links to an external site.)Links to an external site.. Cite your sources in text and include them on the references page. For information regarding APA samples and tutorials, visit the Ashford Writing Center (Links to an external site.)Links to an external site..
Carefully review the Grading Rubric (Links to an external site.)Links to an external site.for the criteria that will be used to evaluate your assignment.
