Common Law Strict Liability: Two Types - There are two types of common law strict liability: certain types of sex offenses involving minors; and felony murder.
This post addresses sex offenses involving minors.
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Strict Liability for Sex Offenses - One important example of a strict liability sex offense—and the one that survives today in most jurisdictions—involves what is now known as “statutory rape.”
Statutory rape is usually defined as an offense with two elements:
(1) Sexual intercourse; with
(2) A person below the age of consent.
Statutory rape is a form of partial strict liability. The prosecutor has to prove the existence of a specified mens rea with respect to the defendant having sexual intercourse (e.g., that he intended to have intercourse), but no culpable mens rea has to be proven with respect to the defendant’s awareness of the victim’s age.
Thus, it is no defense if the defendant reasonably believed that the victim was old enough to consent. Strict liability is imposed as to that element of the offense.
Question - Is statutory rape an example of complete strict liability or partial strict liability?
Answer and Analysis - Partial strict liability. Because the prosecutor must prove a culpable mens rea for at least one element of the crime, statutory rape is an example of partial strict liability.
The prosecutor is not required to prove a culpable mens rea with respect to knowledge of the victim’s age, so it is no defense if the defendant reasonable believed that the victim was old enough to consent: strict liability is imposed as to that element of the offense.
Our tutorial on this topic includes flow charts and other visuals that may help you learn and memorize these rules in a time-effective manner.
Modern Forms of Strict Liability - What are the two modern forms of strict liability?
Our next post on this topic addresses this question.
The Law School Experience - These and related topics are covered in our tutorials on Criminal Law.
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