Actus Reus Element

Question 1

Actus Reus is generally…

Answer 1

1. Act, or
2. Failure to Act when there is a duty to act (omission)

Question 2

AR requires that the act is:

(lists what is is)

Answer 2

1. Past (based on desert)
2. Voluntary (conduct that is avoidable because we have concern about responsibility)
3. Wrongful (not constitutionally protected conduct)
4. Conduct (not thought or status, but may be omission if there was a notice of a legal duty)
5. Committed within a jurisdiction
6. Specified (avoiding vagueness issues arbitrary enforcement, and enlargement)
7. In advance (notice, not retroactive. Courts can’t fundamentally change meaning of the statute, but they can change interpretation of common law crimes)
8. By Statute (in the code, proscribed legislatively)

Question 3

Actus Reus CL rule

Answer 3

The unlawful intent must be connected with some overt act that is designed to carry out the unlawful intent

Question 4

MPC section 2.01 (2) defines on what AR is not:

Answer 4

Reflex or convulsion

OR Bodily movement during unconsciousness or sleep

OR Conduct during hypnosis or result from hypnotic suggestion

OR Bodily movement that otherwise is not a product of the effort or determination of the actor, either conscious or habitual.

Question 5

CL AR Voluntary Req General RULE

Answer 5

Only voluntary behavior (not forced or unconscious) can be criminalized

Question 6

CL AR Voluntary Req on forced behavior

Answer 6

Forced behavior can’t be criminalized

That is D must have a voluntary appearance, not when his VA is presupposed within the statute bc the D did not commit the VA

Question 7

CL AR Voluntary Req on Automatism

Answer 7

Automatism = is the Involuntary Behavior that does not meet the actus reus element

That is not every act preceding commission of offense be voluntary. D can still be found guilty even if he was in a state of automatism knowing it will worsen his condition

Question 8

CL AR Voluntary Req on Automatism

External vs Internal Forces

Answer 8

That is not every act preceding commission of offense be voluntary. D can still be found guilty even if he was in a state of automatism knowing it will worsen his condition thru his internal force

not that someone else/external force brought D to the circumstances of violating the law

Question 9

CL AR Voluntary Req on time frame rule

Answer 9

· Opening up the time frame yields culpability for involuntary act
o That is although someone has an underlying condition that causes involuntary act–>it may be found that you could have foreseen the result when D makes the active decision to do the _____ (fact pattern act)

Question 10

MPC 2.02 (1) on AR req

Answer 10

1. A person is not guilty of an offense unless his liability is based on conduct that includes a voluntary act or an omission to perform an act of which he is physically capable.
2. see listed non AR types

Question 11

CL Prohibition on Status Crimes that are not VA’s

Answer 11

§ Statutes that criminalize a person’s status is deemed unconstitutional as they do not require an act or omission; infringes on Due Process Clause and subject to Eighth Amendment cruel and unusual punishment because people would lose liberty just because they hold a certain “status”

ex. Drug addicted person = addiction is a status not a crime

Question 12

Legality

What is it?

Answer 12

§ Principle of legality: the commission of an act must be prescribed by statute as being illegal; conduct that is not proscribed as being illegal cannot be held criminally liable;

Question 13

Legality

Law is prospective

Answer 13

cannot make an act retroactively illegal- ex post facto; concerned with fair warning- that a D must be given fair warning as to what conduct is deemed criminal

Question 14

Legality

Law is applied Legislatively

Answer 14

criminal liability should ordinarily be imposed by statutes generally