Knowledge and Belief in the Criminal Law

The Cartel Offences: An Elemental Pathology

“…270 Nor need D necessarily think that it is highly likely that the proposition believed is true. 271 On one view, D must have 'a conviction' that the proposition believed is true 272 but that view is highly questionable. 273 The view expressed in the Guide for Practitioners is that: 'belief might be taken to require something less than the degree of conviction required for knowledge, but something more than the pallid substitute of mere suspicion.…”

“…To take an obvious example, belief under ss 44ZZRF(2) and 44ZZRG(2) might be taken to require a conviction or commitment to the proposition that the contract, arrangement or understanding contained a cartel provision. 282 If so, diffidence and scepticism will become a basis for denials of liability. Should criminal liability turn on a factor as variable and fickle as degrees of confidence?…”