Ch. 10 Defenses to Criminal Responsibility (E3/FINAL) Flashcards
An { } defense acknowledges that a crime was committed but offers some justification or excuse to { } the defendant’s { }.
1) Affirmative
2) Negate
3) Culpability
This affirmative defense relies on the genuine and honest belief that an accused acted in accordance with the law.
What is Mistake of Law?
This affirmative defense argues that the accused made an honest error.
What is Mistake of Fact?
This affirmative defense argues that an accused was coerced to involuntarily commit a crime.
What is Duress & Consent?
This affirmative defense assumes that existing conditions (in nature or otherwise) caused the accused to commit a criminal act as the lesser of two evils.
What is Necessity?
What is the key difference between Duress & Consent and Necessity?
“Duress & Consent” refers to “persons”
“Necessity” refers to “circumstances”
This affirmative defense negates culpability when the victim, in advance, voluntarily acquiesced to nonserious bodily harm.
What is Consent of Victim?
This affirmative defense argues that the police were responsible for making an accused commit a crime that otherwise would not have been contemplated.
What is Entrapment?
When the accused does not possess the mens rea required of an intent crime, they are said to have a… (HINT: This is also an affirmative defense)
Diminished capacity
This affirmative defense states that the defendant’s state of mind renders them inculpable for criminal action due to a mental illness or disease.
What is Insanity?
What is the key difference between diminished capacity and insanity?
Diminished capacity - typically refers to mental incapacitation or defect
Insanity - typically refers to mental illness or disease
What is the key difference between a mental DISEASE and a mental DEFECT?
Disease - condition that could worsen or improve over time
Defect - permanent, unchanging condition
Of the 8 types of affirmative defenses, which 2 refer to the defendant having “no reasonable alternative?”
1) Duress & Consent
2) Necessity
What are the 2 components of entrapment?
1) Inducement
2) Predisposition
What is the difference between inducement and predisposition?
Inducement - refers to police actions that give the defendant the opportunity to commit a crime
Predisposition - refers to past or present behavior that would make the defendant feel inclined/enticed to commit a crime
Can you have entrapment WITHOUT inducement?
NO!
Is inducement allowed in policing procedures? Explain.
Yes, inducement is permissible, but it cannot be excessive
Inducement is said to be excessive when it shocks…
The conscience of the community
List the 6 legitimate types of diminished capacity.
1) Infancy
2) Intoxication
3) Retardation
4) Automatism
5) Premenstrual Syndrome
6) Battered Person’s Syndrome
What are the 2 types of intoxication?
Voluntary & involuntary
List the 2 illegitimate types of diminished capacity.
1) XYY Chromosome Disorder
2) Twinkie Syndrome
List the 3 tests for an insanity defense in order of most difficult to use to easiest.
1) M’Naghten Rule
2) Substantial Capacity
3) Durham Test
Is M’Naghten an “OR” or an “AND” test?
OR test
What is the complement test to the M’Naghten Rule (HINT: This test is NOT a standalone test)?
Irresistible Impulse Test
What is another name for the Irresistible Impulse Test that serves as its benchmark (i.e., it tests how far gone you are)?
Policeman-At-An-Elbow Test
This M’Naghten Rule test asks whether the defendant knew right from wrong (HINT: THIS IS A STANDALONE TEST).
What is the Right-Wrong Test?
This M’Naghten Rule test asks if the defendant knew what they were doing and understood the consequences of their actions (HINT: THIS IS A STANDALONE TEST).
What is the Nature & Quality Test?
With the Nature & Quality Test, this refers to defendant actions and whether they knew what they were doing.
What is nature?
With the Nature & Quality Test, this refers to the consequences of the defendant’s actions.
What is quality?
This aspect of the Substantial Capacity Test refers to the inability to appreciate the criminality of one’s conduct (i.e., did they possess substantial mental capacity to distinguish right from wrong?).
What is cognition?
This aspect of the Substantial Capacity Test refers to the inability to conform one’s conduct to the requirements of the law (i.e., did they have substantial mental capacity to conduct themselves accordingly?).
What is volition?
Since Durham is the easiest to assess insanity (mental illness/disease), what excuse can the defendant hypothetically use to get exonerated from a drunk driving accident? Why?
Alcoholism because it has to be treated and likely has underlying causes in itself
Insanity, as we understand it in law, is a { } term, meaning that it does not look into your { } records (HINT: one blank is the term “medical” and the other is “legal”).
1) Legal
2) Medical
Does the 5th Amendment’s Double Jeopardy clause apply if you fake insanity?
NO! You will, in fact, be tried again
The strictest AND oldest insanity test.
What is M’Naghten?
The 4 states that have abolished insanity will refer to you as this.
What is Guilty But Mentally Ill (GBMI)?
The 4 states that use the Guilty But Mentally Ill (GBMI) verdict use this test to determine mental illness.
What is M’Naghten?
