An Essay in Memory of Myke

The traditional treatment of mistakes in Anglo-American jurisprudence has been as follows.3 If one engages in the prohibited conduct by mistake (as to what conduct one is engaging in), or causes the harm the law seeks to avoid by mistake (as to the riskiness of one's conduct), then, unless the crime requires the specific intent to engage in the particular conduct or cause the harm, in which case a mistake entails the absence of such an intent and therefore the absence of the prohibited conduct, one is excused from criminal liability if one's mistake is "reasonable". On the other hand, if one makes no mistake about