Wrong on Many Levels: Understanding Crimes Across and Between Events

This article explore the relationship between the structural understanding of crimes (i.e. the identification of offence elements) and the development of the definitional general part (i.e. how offence elements should be defined and applied). In particular, I am concerned with ‘multi-event’ offences, where D’s ulterior mens rea relates to a future conduct event to be completed by D or another. This includes inchoate offences such as conspiracy; complicity liability; as well as so-called prior fault criminalisation. I contend that structural misunderstanding of these offences has led to a definitional deficit, creating a series of (seemingly) intractable problems that can only be addressed through a reimagining of the definitional general part.