Shot Dead by Order
of The Fifth Estate
MENS REA, THE GUILTY MIND! It is one of the two key elements of criminal conduct which, when combined with the actus reus, the criminal act, becomes the arrestable, indictable, prosecutable and convictable event. Maybe! In regards to Fifth Estate type corruption, all the bull in arrestable, indictable, prosecutable and convictable amounts to a Monopoly get-out-of-jail (or don’t-even-go-to-jail) card. Indeed, recalling the dizzy days of Queensland before the big FitzGerald Royal Commission, the police there referred to their own conduct and business interests as “the Joke.” It was a big laugh. Forefinger to the nostril and a smirking question, “Are you in on the Joke?” A wink and a nudge was all that was required in reply. And the Joke was – and is – fully on the go over here in the Wild West.
Maybe I’m getting a little too technical here, but I would like to explore these basic elements of criminal conduct. The actus reus of common law burglary is the breaking and entering of the dwelling house of another at night, whereas the mens rea includes the requirement that the accused do such breaking and entering with the intent to commit a felony once inside.
In its actus reus/mens rea distinction the criminal law has mirrored a deep divide in morality. This is the divide between wrongdoing and culpability. Although it is disputed, morality is most often thought to contain certain prohibitions and requirements, such as “Do not kill” and “Help others in distress.” Morality generally permits us either to do or not to do most acts, but morality forbids certain actions and requires others. To do an act morality forbids, or to refrain from doing an act morality requires, is to breach one's moral obligations. This is moral wrongdoing. With the guilty act accompanied by the guilty mind, a crime is committed. Yet for some time those involved with the murder of Shirley Finn have stuck together in denying the mens rea of the their part in her killing. Yet, as the wheel turns, this is inexorably falling apart as further facts are gleaned, as follows.