Mens rea
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Mens rea is the mental state of a criminal defendant. In Latin it means a guilty state of mind. Usually there are four levels of mens rea in crimes, from most serious to less serious:
1. intent
2. knowledge
3. recklessness
4. gross (criminal) negligence
The trend in trials and in legislation has been to weaken the requirement of proof of mens rea. A utilitarian view of justice does not depend on mens rea, while a moral view of justice does.