Should negligence be a ground for criminal liability?

Answer 1

depends totally on the situation. the mindset and actions of the accused should be judged by the totality of the circumstances. Ex. if a mother leaves a child to get her nails done...the child is but 4 years old and eats rat poison from the bottom cabinet....indeed, the mother was negligent and has committed a crime. if the same child wanders into the street while mom has been folding laundry....little different...unfortunate situation..yes..but different.

Answer 2

I can't say if it should be grounds, but it definitely can be. One can be jailed (at least theoretically) for speeding, for example, even where the cause of the offense was simply not paying attention to the speedometer or to the posted limit signs.

More serious crimes can result from more extreme negligence, usually referred to as recklessness or gross negligence. Various offenses involving vehicular homicide would be one type of case of this nature. A famous example is of someone shooting into a tent without knowing whether anyone was inside and without intending to harm anyone.

Answer 3

It's defined as an action that's:

Thoughtless

inattentive

neglectful

willfully blind

Or in any other defendant what would have been careless in the event of gross negligence.