The Three Elements Why People Commit Crime There are many different meanings of crime and many different reasons why people commit crimes. In the United States, defense lawyers try to prove that their clients did not know what they were doing when they committed the crime and the prosecution tries to prove that the defendant knew what they were doing when they committed the crime. However, the accusation must have the elements of a crime, which means the state of the facts to prove that someone is guilty. The prosecution and defense lawyers use criminal elements for the accused. Examples of crime elements are: mens rea, autus reus, complicity to actus renus and mens rea. All of these can be used as elements of a crime. First, the first element of a crime is Mens rea. “The mental element is known as the mens rea, or mental state, of the defendant.” (Hames & Ekern, 2009) Prosecuting attorneys try to prove whether the defendant knew about the crime. What was the defendant's mental state? Were they aware of the consequences of the crime, did the defendant plan the crime, or...