The Offence of Theft

Property Offences

In this course, Dr Joe Purshouse (University of Sheffield) explores property offences. In the first module, we introduce the elements of the offence of theft. In the second module, we look at the actus reus for theft. In the third module, we consider the ‘intent to permanently deprive’ part of the mens rea for theft, before turning to the ‘dishonesty’ part of the mens rea for theft in the fourth module. In the fifth module, we explore the offence of robbery, and compare and contrast this with the offence of theft.

The Offence of Theft

In this module, we introduce the offence of theft, focusing in particular on (i) why parliament criminalises property offences (ii) the offence of theft in the Theft Act 1968 (iii) the scope and meaning of theft (iv) the actus reus elements of theft (v) the mens rea elements of theft (vi) ways of interpreting actus reus and mens rea.