Chapter 4 - Criminal Law Flashcards
Define Criminal Law
Committed against society as a whole
Define Civil Law
Offences against individuals
What is jurisdiction?
- law making authority
* Constitution Act 1867 gave Criminal law jurisdiction to parliament
What is the Criminal Code?
The main source of our criminal law
What does the type of offence determine?
- Power of arrest for a citizen or police
- Rights of the accused
- How trial will proceed
- What penalty will be given
What are Summary Conviction Offences?
Minor offences. Accused is arrested or summoned to court without delay
Max penalty $2000 and/or 6 months imprisonment (ex. Nutidy)
What are Indictable Offences?
Serious crimes. More severe penalties
Max penalty up to life imprisonment and penalty is imposed by trial judge (Ex. Murder)
What are Hybrid/Procedure Offences?
Crown can choose whether to proceed summarily or by indictment (ex. Credit card theft, forgery)
Ex.1 A kid steals their parents’ credit card for the first time and shows remorse would proceed by summary process
Ex.2 A career criminal with 100 stolen credit cards would proceed by indictment
For a true crime to exist, what elements MUST both exist at the same time of the crime?
- Actus reus (“guilty act or deed”)
- Mens rea (“guilty mind”)
- Criminal offence(?)
Define Onus
Responsibility of the crown to prove Actus Reus and Mens Rea
What is Recklessness?
The taking of a risk where the result of the action - committing a crime - is foreseeable
Ex. using illegal substances in a public area, carrying concealed weapons without a permit
What is Wilful Blindness?
When a person seeks to avoid liability for a wrongful act by pretending to not know certain facts that would make him/her liable
Ex. Sansregret case
What is Aiding?
To help the principal offender in the act of the crime
Ex. Holding down the victim, while the accused beats them to death with a baseball bat
What is Abetting?
To encourage offender to do something
Ex. “Kill him, get him, hit him”
What two things must be proven to be convicted of aiding and abetting?
- Accused knew that the other intended to commit an offence
- Accused aided or abetted the other
P.S. mere presence at the scene is NOT conclusive evidence
What is “Accessory after the fact”?
Someone who helps a person who has committed a crime to escape detention or capture as outlined in the Criminal Code
Ex. Providing food, clothing, and shelter to the offender
More points:
• even if the principal offender has not been found guilty, the accessory can still be convicted
Ex. The charge of 1st degree against Jack is dropped, but his friend (who helped Jack) serves time in prison
What are violent crimes?
Offences that violate the human body in some way
What is a homicide?
Killing of a human being, directly or indirectly
What are the two types of killing of a human being, directly or indirectly?
- Culpable Homicide - deserving blame; blameworthy
• murder, manslaughter or infanticide
- Non-culpable Homicide - death caused by complete accident or in self defence
Ex. A person tries to sexually assault Kayla, but she uses karate skills and kills her attacker
What is murder?
Intentional killing
Murder occurs in what situations?
- Planned and deliberate - includes cases where money for anything of value passes as consideration for causing death
- The victim is a law-enforcement agent as defined by the Criminal Code
- Death occurs while certain crimes particularly, offensive to society are committed (ex. during the hijacking an aircraft, a passenger is shot and dies from his wounds in hospital)
What is second degree murder?
Intentionally causing death but is not planned in advance
Ex. A bar fight results in death
What is Causation?
The fact of being the cause of something that happened
Ex. What caused the death
What is Manslaughter?
- Culpable Homicide that requires general intent only
* committed in the heat of passion by sudden pressure, unlike murder, that is planned and deliberate
What are two types of Defences?
- Provocation - accused must suddenly lose self-control “in heat of passion” and caused another’s death
Ex. In blind rage, while seeing her child abuse, the mother “snaps” and kills the attacker
- Intoxication - alcohol might make it hard for people to think of the consequences of their actions
What is Infanticide?
The intentional killing of infants, especially by the child’s mother
What is Euthanasia?
“Mercy killing”
What are two types of Euthanasia?
- Voluntary Euthanasia - patient waits to be allowed to die
- Involuntary Euthanasia - occurs in cases where patient can’t give consent
Ex. A person in coma with no hope of recovery
Describe the Criminal Code
- has 3 levels of specify of assault, with increasing penalties
- intent is key element in all 3 levels
- if action is the result of carelessness or reflex, rather than intent, a charge of assault will not succeed
- consent isn’t necessarily given in a sports activity, such as hockey, just because one participates
What is the first level of assault?
- Applying intentional force to another person, either directly or indirectly
- attempting or threatening to apply force
- hindering another person while openly wearing or carrying a weapon or an imitation thereof
What is the second level of assault?
- assault causing bodily harm
- committed by anyone who carries, uses, or threatens to use a weapon or an imitation of one, or causes bodily harm to the victim
What is the third level of assault?
- aggravated assault
- most severe
- wounds maims, disfigures, or endangers the life of victim
What is the first level of sexual assault?
Included in definition of assault, but sexually related
Ex. molesting
What is the second level of sexual assault?
Anyone who:
- carries, uses, or threatens to use a weapon or imitation thereof
- threatens to cause bodily harm to a person other than victim
- causes bodily harm to victim
- aided in the offence, is guilty of an indictable offence and liable to imprisonment for a term not exceeding 14 years
What is aggravated sexual assault?
- sexual assault that wounds, maims, disfigures, or endangers the life of the victim
- everyone who commits an aggravated sexual assault, is guilty of an indictable offence and liable to imprisonment for life
What does Break and Enter mean?
- commonly called burglary
- “Break” means to break any part, internal or external
- “Enter” means a person enters as soon as any part of his/her body or any part of a tool that he uses is within any thing that is being entered
What is Theft?
Taking another’s property with intent to deny the owner’s use of it
What is Colour of Right?
• when the person who takes the item believes they had the right to do so and therefore had no intent to steal
Ex. A mother takes a bike from the front of a corner store, thinking that her kid carelessly forgot it there
What is the max number of years in jail for theft under $5000?
2 years
What is the max number of years in jail for theft over $5000?
10 years
What is a weapon?
Anything used to cause death or injury to a person or anything used or intended for use in threatening or intimidating any person
What weapons are prohibited?
Gun silencers, switchblades, knives, automatics, rifles and sawed off shotguns, and any other “declared prohibited” weapon
What weapons are restricted?
Firearms that can be fired by one hand, semi-automatics, firearms that can be folded or telescoped; rapid fire weapons and form part of a gun collection; any other weapon that has been declared restricted
Describe Prostitution
- paying someone to have sexual activity
- some activities related to prostitution are illegal (ex. Procuring and soliciting)
- “procuring” - obtaining, as in obtaining a person for prostitution
- “soliciting” - communicating w/ another person for purpose of prostitution
Define criminalize
To make an offence illegal
Ex. Making cannabis illegal again
What is Jury Nullification?
Refusal of a jury to apply the law despite belief that the accused is guilty
What 3 elements must be satisfied before the defence of necessity is available?
- Must be an urgent situation of danger
- Must be no other legal alternative
- Must be proportionality between harm inflicted and the harm avoided
