Criminal Justice 1010: Mens Rea

DeShayla Tran

MWF 4:00pm-5:30pm

12-5-15

Reason of Interest
Psychology
Unique Case
Criminal Minds

Definition
The mental state, or intent, necessary as an unjustified act in
establishing guilt.

Elements

Purpose
Knowledge
Negligence
Recklessness

Issei Sagawa

Cannibalism
Game he played as a child.
Appealed to him at age 6.
Male classmates thigh
Beastiality

Adolescence
Majored in Literature
Obsession with Nomadic Women
Attempted to eat a German Women
Charged for Rape

Paris
Studied abroad for his PhD in literature.
Fantasised about killing/eating thousands of women at French
capital.
Prostitution

Renee Hartevelt
Exchanged student from Holland
Nice to Sagawa
He fell for her
Planned out a murder

The Kill
Invited her over to help him on an assignment
Confessed his love
Shot her in the back of the head as she was reading.
Fainted

Post Mortem
Intercourse
Sampled parts of her body
Kept what he liked in the fridge
Discarded her body near lake in Bois de Boulogne.
Caught shortly after
Willingly accepted arrest

Lawsuit
Father paid for lawyer
Unfit to stand trial
Suppose to go to mental institute
Dad got him back to Japan
Japan unable to legally hold him.

Japan
Parents died
Brother-severe depression
Became famous
Interviews
Books
Porno
Paintings
Women used him for money
Masterbate to calm urges

Purpose
Devour another human being to satisfy his desire.

Knowledge
His desire being, not only against the law, but furthermore, against
humanity.

Negligence
Sagawa discarded the fact that his actions would harm the person
he ate, their family, and friends; in addition to his own.

Recklessness
He disregarded the risks that he would have been sentenced to jail
for life and, moreover, death row.

Importance of Mens Rea

Allows the criminal justice system to discriminate between
individuals who intentionally committed the crime and those who
carelessly committed the crime.

My Opinion
Crazy how powerful the mind is.
Unjust how he was set free.
Determination gets you anywhere.

Sources
Alchin, L. (2015, March 1). Mens rea. Retrieved November 28, 2015, from http://www.findameaning.info/latin-legalterms/mens-rea.htm
Gaines, L., & Miller, R. (2014). Chapter 3: Inside Criminal Law. In Criminal justice in action: The core (7th ed., pp. 75-76).
Belmont, CA, California: Wadsworth.
The Cannibal That Walked Free (2007). (2012, November 4). Retrieved November 28, 2015, from https://www.youtube.
com/watch?v=IdXPJWODzjo
Interview with a Cannibal. (2012, January 29). Retrieved November 28, 2015, from https://www.youtube.com/watch?
v=BosZxa1bYcE
Japan's Most Famous Cannibal - Tofugu. (2012, August 17). Retrieved November 28, 2015, from http://www.tofugu.
com/2012/08/17/japans-most-famous-cannibal/
Model Penal Codes Mens Rea. (2013). Retrieved November 30, 2015, from http://nationalparalegal.
edu/public_documents/courseware_asp_files/criminalLaw/basicElements/ModelPenalCodeMensRea.asp
Clarke, P. (n.d.). Extreme Evil. Retrieved December 2, 2015, from https://books.google.com/books?
id=WFNaD9ArVqwC&pg=PT38&lpg=PT38&dq=
Issei Sagawa. (n.d.). Retrieved December 2, 2015, from https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Issei_Sagawa