Criminal Law Terms

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Negligence
Negligence is the failure to exercise the appropriate degree of care that would be expected. Committing negligence usually means that the person has not acted to protect others from a foreseeable risk of harm. Negligence can cause one to be held criminally and civilly accountable for any adverse results. Negligence exists in three types or degrees:

• Slight negligence: committing an act that is normally not considered dangerous. Persons convicted of slight negligence commit acts that only an extremely cautious person may have anticipated would cause injury.
• Ordinary negligence: careless acts that a sensible person might anticipate would cause harm.
• Gross negligence: more than careless, this is the failure to use even the slightest amount of caution. Negligence that shows a recklessness or willful disregard for the safety of others. Proving a gross negligence charge requires that the defendant knew of the danger to another and had the ability to prevent injury-gross negligence also requires that the defendant failed to use ordinary care to prevent injury through their negligence, under circumstances when a reasonable person would have seen that serious injury was likely.