Is motive irrelevant to criminal responsibility?
Ontario, Canada
The following excerpt is from R. v. Skeete, 2017 ONCA 926 (CanLII):
As a circumstance ulterior to the actus reus and mens rea of a crime, motive is no part of the definition of a crime, thus irrelevant to criminal responsibility. A person may be lawfully convicted of a crime whatever his motive may have been, or even if he had no motive: Lewis v. The Queen, 1979 CanLII 19 (SCC), [1979] 2 S.C.R. 821, at pp. 833-835.
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