The fair labelling implications of INUS causation for strict liability offences involving injury or death by driving

There are current arguments in criminal-law literature for alternative approaches to causation to be used in English criminal law. The most recent proposal has come in the form of replacing the standard tests of causation with a single test, known as ‘INUS’ (or ‘NS’) causation – where a cause is a n ecessary part of a s ufficient condition. This article discusses one of the potentially problematic implications of adopting the INUS account of causation in English criminal law. It analyses the consequences of INUS would have for strict liability result crimes involving injury or death by driving. It argues that INUS would affect the liability outcomes for these stigmatic offences so that instead of being acquitted, the defendant (D) would be criminally liable. However, such liability outcomes would yield fair-labelling concerns as they misrepresent the wrongfulness of D's conduct. This highlights the fair-labelling concerns with imposing strict liability in stigmatic offences more broadly. It concludes that the fair labelling issues in strict liability offences involving injury or death by driving could be addressed by importing a blameworthy requirement for the aggravated actus reus elements of the offences generally provided by D's careless driving. This would ensure that these offences appropriately capture the wrongdoing that they aim to target.