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The way we use mens rea in our legal system is more like "mind of the criminal," not outright literal intent.

Negligence can be "unintentional" but still land you in the realm of having a guilty criminal mind.

I find it to be a reasonable take. If you're accidentally going 100 in a 70 (which is a misdemeanor in california), you're not being a careful enough driver, and we deem that lack of care criminal.

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> Negligence can be "unintentional" but still land you in the realm of having a guilty criminal mind.

That’s just another way of saying “not all crimes require a guilty mind” with extra steps

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> As in, if I meant to travel at 70 and was instead doing 100 it doesn’t matter that I sincerely meant not to speed and did not know I was speeding, I can still be convicted even if the judge believes I had no intent.

IANAL but from what I've looked up in the last there's at least willfulness that matters for these things. For example if you could prove that happened because your car accelerator pedal broke and you had no opportunity to react, I'm pretty sure you would not be guilty, strict liability or not.

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At that point you are not so much "driving" as you are sitting in the driver's seat of a renegade vehicle.
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