What are the two types of causation required to establish a criminal act in Georgia?

In Georgia criminal law, establishing causation is essential to linking a defendant's actions to the crime committed. The two types of causation that are required are actual causation (often referred to as "cause-in-fact") and proximate causation.

Actual causation determines whether the defendant's actions were a necessary condition for the result to occur. This means that if the defendant’s conduct had not happened, the harm would not have occurred. Essentially, it looks at the direct link between the action and the result—if you can say the result would not have happened "but for" the defendant's conduct, then actual causation is satisfied.

Proximate causation, on the other hand, deals with the foreseeability and relationship between the action and the consequence. It determines if the consequences of the defendant's actions were a foreseeable result of their conduct. Proximate causation is concerned with whether it is just to hold the defendant responsible for the result based on their actions. This examines the extent to which the harm was a direct result of the action and whether there were intervening factors that could mitigate the defendant's culpability.

Understanding both actual and proximate causation is crucial for establishing criminal liability, as they collectively help prove that