Transferred Intent

Transferred Intent
Name
Institutional Affiliation
Transferred Intent
Transferred intent is a situation whereby harm directed to a certain party unintentionally or mistakably causes harm to another party who was not initially the target (Reed, Bohlander, Wake & Smith, 2014). When the action hurts a third party, the culprit remains responsible for the malice and is legally responsible as per the law. In such a case, the court must prove that the perpetrator of the act had the intention to harm the other party and that they were aware the action would cause harm.
A Demonstrative Story
Jack and his friend Peter are drinking in a local bar when they get into a heated argument. Jack becomes so angry that he decides to fight Peter. He picks a glass to hit his friend with it. In his an attempt to defend himself, Peter ducks and the glass accidentally hits Liz, a lady seated next table with her boyfriend. Liz moves to court to file a case against Jack. In his defense at the court of law, Jack says that he did not intend to harm Liz and that the glass hit her accidentally. Jack would still be held culpable since his actions were aimed at harming another person though he ended up causing the harm to the wrong person.
This story explains a case of transferred intent. The initial intention was to harm Peter. However, the glass mistakenly landed on Liz. Jack was aware that the glass would harm his friend and that was exactly his intention. He would be held guilty because despite harming the wrong target, his sole intention was to harm.

In fact, he can be charged with two crimes. The first crime is attempted assault which was directed towards Peter. Second crime would be causing harm to Liz.
References
Reed, A., Bohlander, M., Wake, N., & Smith, E. (2014). General defences in criminal law: Domestic and comparative perspectives. Farnham, Surrey, UK: Ashgate