Specific Intent
A criminal offence whose predominant fault element is intention (rather than recklessness or negligence) — a classification that matters chiefly because voluntary intoxication can be a defence to specific-intent offences but not to basic-intent ones.
Independent editorial summary — not the official statute text. Read the official version on legislation.gov.uk.
Whether an offence is one of 'specific' or 'basic' intent has little to do with everyday usage of the word 'specific' and everything to do with how the law treats a drunk or drugged defendant. The Crown Court Compendium explains: 'an offence is one of specific intent if the predominant mens rea is one of intention (eg murder). If the offence charged is one of specific intent the Crown must prove that the defendant had the relevant mens rea for the offence despite being intoxicated. The defendant's intoxication can provide evidence that they did not form the mens rea.'
This matters because the law treats getting voluntarily drunk or high as itself a form of fault, but only for basic-intent crimes: for those, self-induced intoxication cannot excuse a defendant from having formed the necessary state of mind. For specific-intent offences, by contrast, intoxication evidence can genuinely undermine the prosecution's case that the defendant intended the relevant result — though, as the Compendium notes, 'if the defendant did form the mens rea, intoxication provides no excuse: an intention formed in drink or under the influence of drugs remains an intention.'
Example
Murder is a specific-intent offence, so a defendant who was so intoxicated they could not have formed the intent to kill or cause really serious harm may have a defence on that basis (though they may still be convicted of the basic-intent offence of manslaughter).
Related terms
Official sources
This explanation is drawn from the official sources below; every substantive statement is verified against them. For advice on a specific matter, see our find help page.