Willful Blindness Criminal Law

The respondent had agreed to smuggle gems knowing it was an unlawful act for a substantial reward. In many cases it s clear what the defendant knew for example in an average theft case it s clear that the defendant was aware that the property in question belonged to someone else. The doctrine of willful blindness is a concept in criminal law generally in the white collar context that serves as a substitute for an otherwise necessary mens rea element such as knowledge.

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The court of appeal in downey specifically wrote that w ilful blindness acts as a substitute for actual knowledge.

Willful blindness criminal law. 761 willful ignorance or contrived ignorance or intentional ignorance or nelsonian knowledge is a term used in law to describe a situation in which a person seeks to avoid civil or criminal liability for a wrongful act by intentionally keeping themself unaware of facts that would render him or her liable or implicated. Willful blindness or wilful blindness sometimes called ignorance of law. What is willful blindness.

I avoid mentioning the term wilful blindness or turning a blind eye in the context of determining if an offender can rebut the s 18 2 presumption and in any case there is no need to so mention. In fact he would be guilty of wilful blindness to the obvious truth of the matter. Willful blindness is a term used in criminal law to refer to the acts of a person who intentionally fails to be informed about matters that would make the person criminally liable.

The author urges the courts criminal practitioners and prosecutors to. But at least when it comes to criminal law willful blindness may not get you very far. Willful blindness is a term used in law to describe a situation in which a person seeks to avoid civil or criminal liability for a wrongful act by intentionally keeping himself or herself unaware of facts that would render him or her liable or implicated.

In united states v. And ii always be scrupulously clear which test to apply. In itself that was a strong reason for him to be suspicious of the contents of the bag.

Looking the other way. Wilful blindness applies to the accused s state of mind. Jewell the court held that proof of willful ignorance satisfied the requirement of knowledge as to criminal possession.

Lt describes an attempt to avoid civil or criminal liability for a wrongful act by intentionally putting oneself in a position to be unaware of facts which create liability. State of mind is crucial in criminal law. It describes a situation where someone tries to escape criminal liability by intentionally overlooking the obvious.

That is where it exists it imputes or supports an inference of knowledge to the defendant or serves as a substitute for actual knowledge.

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