Litigation
Oct. 1, 2010
Should a Person Be Liable Under the Law for Thoughts Alone?
The idea that an officer can be held liable for improper motives conflicts with the legal principle that a person cannot be punished for thoughts alone, by Blair Schlecter of Hurrell Cantrall.
A well-established principle of the law is that one cannot be punished for thoughts alone. In order for a person to be guilty of a crime, that person must have a guilty mind (mens rea) and commit a guilty act (actus rea). Therefore, the existence of a guilty mind alone is not sufficient to give rise to criminal liability.
Although not widely discussed, this same principle also seems to apply to civil cases.
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