• Warl0k3@lemmy.world
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    3 months ago

    Its been a defence for several hundred years, in fact! Showing intent is one of the three things you need to establish in every criminal case for it to be considered valid. Fuck the cops for dropping this case though, how in hell was there no intent to commit a crime here wtf.

    • lolcatnip@reddthat.com
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      3 months ago

      “Strict liability” crimes are the exception to that rule. A lot of relatively minor crimes, like code violations or letting minors into a bar, are in that category.

    • Transporter Room 3@startrek.website
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      3 months ago

      Weird, I’ve literally always heard “ignorance of the law is no excuse to break the law”, which seems to imply criminal intent doesn’t matter. Only that the action that was take was illegal.

    • Pips@lemmy.sdf.org
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      3 months ago

      Not every criminal case. There’s strict liability crimes, the most well-known being statutory rape.