Definition
Criminal motives are those causes that invoke illegal actions.
Introduction
Criminal motives are those causes that invoke illegal actions. For an action to be considered illegal, an applicable law must be broken. For an illegal action to be considered criminal, the offense must cause harm to society or property. Criminal motives shed light on the “why?” behind deviant behavior and, when coupled with evidence in court, provide jurors with additional support in considering verdict.
Often confused with intent, motive constructs are external antecedents to internal thought processes (Maasberg et al. 2015). In this sense, motive and intent are two different elements with the former influencing the latter. Common law is founded on the principle that an individual is guilty of a crime when there is both a guilty action (actus reus) and guilty mind (mens rea). In Latin, Actus non facit reum nisi mens sit rea, or “an act is not necessarily a guilty act unless the accused has the...
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References
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Bencivenga, J. (2019). Criminals: Motives. In: Shapiro, L., Maras, MH. (eds) Encyclopedia of Security and Emergency Management. Springer, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-69891-5_115-1
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-69891-5_115-1
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Latest
Criminals: Motives- Published:
- 29 June 2019
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-69891-5_115-2
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Original
Criminals: Motives- Published:
- 03 October 2018
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-69891-5_115-1