Chapter 4: The General Principles of Criminal Liability: Mens Rea, Concurrence, Ignorance, and Mistake

Question 1

culpability or blameworthiness

Answer 1

the idea that it’s fair and just to punish only people we can blame

Question 2

motive

Answer 2

something that causes a person to act

Question 3

subjective fault

Answer 3

fault that requires a “bad mind” in the actor

Question 4

objective fault

Answer 4

requires no purposeful or conscious bad mind in the actor

Question 5

strict liability

Answer 5

liability without either subjective or objective fault

Question 6

general intent

Answer 6

the intent to commit the criminal act forbidden by statute

Question 7

specific intent

Answer 7

the general intent to commit the actus reus of a crime plus the intent to cause a criminally harmful result

Question 8

purposely

Answer 8

the most blameworthy mental state requiring the actor’s “conscious object” to be to commit crimes or cause criminal results

Question 9

knowingly

Answer 9

the mental state of awareness in conduct crimes and, in result crimes, awareness that it is “practically certain” that the conduct will cause the bad result

Question 10

recklessly

Answer 10

conscious creation of a “substantial and unjustifiable” risk of criminal harm

Question 11

negligently

Answer 11

the mental attitude that a person acts negligently with respect to a material element of an offense when he should be aware of a substantial and unjustifiable risk that the material element exists or will result from his conduct. The risk must be of such a nature and degree that the actor’s failure to perceive it, considering the nature and purpose of his conduct and the circumstances known to him, involved a gross deviation from the standard of care that a reasonable person would observe in the actor’s situation.

Question 12

what are the levels of culpability?

Answer 12

1. purposely
2. knowingly
3. recklessly
4. negligently

Question 13

principle of concurrence

Answer 13

come mental fault has to trigger the criminal act in conduct crimes and the cause in result crimes

Question 14

causation

Answer 14

holding an actor criminally accountable for the results of their conduct

Question 15

factual cause

Answer 15

also called “but for” cause or “cause in fact”; if it weren’t for an actor’s conduct, the result wouldn’t have occurred

Question 16

legal (‘proximate”) cause

Answer 16

a subjective question that asks, “Is it fair to blame Defendant for the harm triggered by a chain of events their action(s) set in motion?”

Question 17

intervening cause

Answer 17

an event that comes between the initial act in a sequence and the end result

Question 18

ignorance maxim

Answer 18

the presumption that the defendant(s) knew the law(s) they were breaking

Question 19

mistake of fact

Answer 19

a defense to criminal liability whenever the mistake prevents the formation of any fault-based mental attitude – namely, purposefully, knowingly, recklessly, or negligently

Question 20

failure-of-proof defense

Answer 20

mistake defenses in which defendants usually present enough evidence to raise a reasonable doubt that the prosecution has proved the mens rea required for criminal liability

Question 21

The Complexity of Mens Rea (slides)

Answer 21

1. difficult to discover and prove in court
2. vague and incomplete definitions
3. broad spectrum of mental attitudes
4. may be different attitudes for different elements
5. motive and intent
   (motive is something that causes a person to act. motive is NOT a required element of a crime.)