to the sale of a lottery ticket to a person who had not attained the age of 16 years. Advantages of strict liability Many strict liability offences concern the running of a business, and if the business runs properly the actus reus will never occur. This means that many strict liability offences keep many businesses in line A person or company taking a risk in order to make a profit ought to be liable if the risk causes problems to others Certain activities must be prohibited for the public good and, so long as the penalty is not too severe, the public interest in, for example, preventing pollution outweighs the public interest in not convicting those who are without special fault For some offences, it would be impossible to secure a conviction if guilty knowledge had to be proved, particularly where the defendant was a company rather than an individual. References Criminal law legal terminology Legal terminology