TMA01 – W11

ALEKSANDRA KILISZEWSKA
PERSONAL IDENTIFIER : 05488888

Question 1)
Mens rea is the intent a person has towards committing a crime. Mens rea, derives from the
latin language which stands for the “guilty mind”. There are 5 levels of mens rea which
determine the culpability of mens rea, and determine how serious the crime commited is based
on those levels. The 5 levels of mens rea are strict liability, negligence, gross negligence,
recklessness and intention (of which intention holds the highest culpability, whilst strict liability
holds the lowest). An example of mens rea for murder would consist of an intetion to kill or
cause grevious bodily harm to another.
Question 2)
The adversarial legal system is a model of justice that is widely used in common law
jurisdictions around the world, meanwhile, an inquisitorial legal system is an extensive pre-trial
investigation with interrogations that aims to prevent an innocent person being brought to trial.
A person may think that an inquisitorial legal system might be better, as it will prevent innocent
people being brought to trial and convicted of a crime they may not have committed, however,
others may think that an adversarial legal system may be more suitable, as a neutral party
(eg.judge, jury) gets to decide the level of likeability the defendant has committed the crime he
was accused of based on the quality and level of evidence.
Question 3)
One reason why Gladys may decide not to report this crime is because she might think that £20
is too low of a value to report and to be taken seriously by the police, making it a minor crime.
Another reason why Gladys may decide against reporting the crime, could be connected to her
being a part of a minority group (elderly), and reporting said minor crime may cause prejudice
and judgement from others within her community, from which she might lose necessary
support and may negatively impact her life.
Question 4)
The legal issue in this scenario is Diana breaking the night curfew which starts at 10pm and
finishes at 7am, by playing loud music disadvantaging others around her. The relevant rule to
this scenario is that no excessive amount of noise pollution, unless permission has been granted
beforehand, is to be made between the hours of 10pm and 7am. This rule applies to the facts of
the scenario as Diana plays very loud music between the hours of 12.30am and 6am, disturbing
and disrupting the life of others within her near vicinity, like Victor. In conclusion, the police
will be able to issue Diana with a community protection order, as her direct actions has caused
difficulties to Victor’s life, which resulted in him needing medication.
Question 5)
a) In unit 3, I found learning about issues within the legal system the most interesting.
b) The thing in unit4 I stuggled with the most was creating the timeline of events and
applying the public interest test in Sally’s case.
c) In unit 4, the topic I found most challenging was creating a timeline of evidence and the
concept of public interest test.
d) Reading, providing answers to short-answer questions, notetaking and time planning.
e) I would like my tutor to contact me about this.
f) The most useful thing I have done to enable myself to study effectively is learning how
to take more concise notes of the material I’m studying, however I do think there is
room for improvement.