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Reasonable Man Standard

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Submitted By loganmj3
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The reasonable man standard is a standard in criminal law and it is used for the good of the criminally accused. The definition of the “reasonable man” standard is the decision of whether an accused is guilty of a given offense that might involve the application of an objective test in which the accused is compared to that of a reasonable person under similar circumstances. In most cases, persons with greater than average skills, or with special duties to society, are held to a higher standard of care. The reasonable man is not used often but it is used when the court is in a pickle, when they can’t decide whether or not the criminally accused acted out or it was just an accident. A jury can usually decide whether or not the accused has acted as a reasonable person would have acted in the same situation. After the decision, the jury generally will consider the accused persons conduct in light of what the defendant actually knows, experienced, or has perceived of the situation. In addition to the accused actual knowledge, a jury also considers the knowledge that should be common to everyone in the given situation(3). When we get beyond the thought of what the accused actually knew, the problem gets more in depth and complicated, and the authorities less lenient. Although a few propositions call for a good deal of support. Only if the actor has a physical impairment of personality or is insane or a child, he must be fully attentive to his surroundings to perceive what the normal reasonable man would be; they will be held to see the obvious.(3) There is a big deal of room for subjective factors. Not every situation calls for the same degree of attentiveness, the part of the standard man, and the question whether or not any given situation requires special alertness can depend on the observer's prior experiences. Thus an example, a driver who for some reason knows

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