Crim Law

Question 0

What are the General Intent crimes?

Answer 0

Catch all category. Most common are Rape and Battery.

**Note: Doctrine of Transferred Intent Applies-There will always be the crime against transferred party and an attempt against initial party.

Question 1

What are the specific intent crimes?

Answer 1

Mnemonic: Students Can Always Fake A Laugh, Even For Ridiculous Bar Facts.

Solicitation, Conspiracy, Attempt, First Degree Murder, Assault, Larceny, Embezzlement, False Pretenses, Robbery, Burglary, Forgery.

Question 2

What are strict liability crimes?

Answer 2

No intent crimes. The importance of strict liability on the bar exam is that any defense that negates intention cannot be a defense to the no intent crimes of strict liability.

**Note: If the crime is in the administrative, regulator, or morality area and you don’t see any adverbs in the statute such as knowingly, willfully, or intentionally, then the statute is meant to be a no intent crime of strict liability.

Question 3

What are the four Common Law mental states?

Answer 3

Specific Intent
Malice
General Intent
Strict Liability

Question 4

What are the four insanity defenses?

Answer 4

M’Naghten Rule: At the time of his conduct. Defendant lacked the ability to know the wrongfulness of his actions or lacked the ability to understand the nature and quality of his actions.

Irresistible Impulse: Due to the Defendant’s mental illness he was unable to control his actions or conform his conduct to the law.

Durham Rule: Defendant’s conduct was a product of mental illness (the most broad).

MPC: Defendant lacked the substantial capacity to either (1) appreciate the criminality of his conduct, or (2) conform his conduct to the requirements of law.

Question 5

What are the essential elements of a crime?

Answer 5

General Rule: in order to be guilty of a crime an actor must (1) act volitionally or fail to act when under a legal duty with (2) the requisite mental state of the crime (3) at the time the same time and (4) caused the injury.

Question 6

Generally there is no legal duty to rescue. What are the five circumstances that give rise to a legal duty to act?

Answer 6

By statute
By contract
Relationship of parties
Voluntary assumption
Conduct creates the peril

Question 7

What are the MPC mental states?

Answer 7

Purposeful
Knowingly
Recklessly
Negligently

Question 8

What is the mental state of Purposefully?

Answer 8

One acts purposefully if it is his CONSCIOUS OBJECTIVE to engage in certain conduct or cause a certain result.

Question 9

What is the mental state of Knowingly?

Answer 9

One acts knowingly when he is AWARE (knew or believed) that his conduct will very likely cause the result.

Question 10

What is the mental state of Recklessly?

Answer 10

One acts recklessly when he consciously disregards a substantial and unjustifiable risk.

Question 11

What is the mental state of Negligently?

Answer 11

One acts negligently when he fails to be aware of a substantial and unjustifiable risk.

Question 12

Accomplice Liability

Answer 12

Gen. Rule: an accomplice is one who AIDS, ADVISES, or ENCOURAGES the principal in the commission of the crime charged.

Intent: Accomplices must have the requisite intent that the crime be committed.
Liability: Accomplices are liable for the crime itself and all other foreseeable crimes.
Withdrawal: Depending on how the person aided will effect what is needed to withdraw.
Encouragement: The person must repudiate the encouragement.
Assistance: The person must do everything possible to neutralize the assistance.
Police: An alternative means of withdrawal is informing the police.
Accessory After the Fact: One who receives, relieves, comforts, or assists another knowing that he has committed a felony, in order to help the felon escape arrest, trial, or conviction. An AAF has committed a separate crime with a punishment unrelated to the felony committed.

Question 13

What are the three inchoate offenses?

Answer 13

Solicitation
Conspiracy
Attempt

Question 14

What is Solicitation?

Answer 14

Solicitation consists of inciting, counseling, advising,urging, or commanding another to commit a crime, with the intent the person solicited commit the crime.

**Note: Under the CL the person solicited need not agree to commit the crime. However, if the person agrees a conspiracy has been formed and the solicitation merges. Factual impossibility is no defense.

Question 15

What is Conspiracy?

Answer 15

Conspiracy requires (1) an agreement btwn two or more persons; (2) with an intent to enter into the agreement; and (3) an intent by at least two persons to achieve the objective of the agreement.

**Notes: A majority require an overt act (mere preparation will suffice), this is contrary to CL. CL = Bilateral approach (acquittal of one defendant, precludes conviction of remaining defendants). MPC = Unilateral approach. Each conspirator is liable for all the crimes of co-conspirators if those crimes were (1) committed in furtherance of the conspiracy and (2) we’re foreseeable. Withdrawal never relieves the defendant from liability for the conspiracy itself. Conspiracy does not merge.

Question 16

What is Attempt?

Answer 16

Attempt is an overt act, done with the specific intent to commit a crime, that falls short of completing the crime.

**Note: Majority (MPC) overt act must be a substantial step. Proximity test (minority) act must come dangerously close to completion.

Question 17

What is homicide?

Answer 17

At common law homicide is divided into four categories:(1) CL Murder, (2) 1st degree murder, (3) 2nd degree murder, (4) manslaughter.

Question 18

Common law murder?

Answer 18

Murder is the unlawful killing of a human being with malice aforethought.

• *Note: there are four mental states that give rise to malice aforethought.
  (1) Intent to kill
  (2) Intent to inflict great bodily injury
  (3) Reckless indifference to an unjustifiably high risk to human life
  (4) Intent to commit a felony

Question 19

1st degree murder?

Answer 19

Premeditated killing: A murder made with premeditation and deliberation.

Felony murder: Any death caused in the commission of, or in an attempt to commit, a felony is murder. Malice is implied from the intent to commit the underlying felony.
Defenses: (1) defense to underlying felony, or (2) reaching place of temporary safety.
BARRK: burglary, arson, rape, robbery, kidnapping

Homicide of a police officer.

Question 20

Second degree murder?

Answer 20

Codified CL murder.

Question 21

Manslaughter

Answer 21

Voluntary: A killing that would be murder but for the existence of adequate provocation. Must arouse sudden and intense passion in the mind of ordinary person, causing him to lose self control. The defendant was in fact provoked. No time for reasonable person to cool and the defendant in fact did not cool down.

Involuntary manslaughter: committed with criminal negligence or misdemeanor murder rule.

Question 22

What is Battery?

Answer 22

Battery is the (1) unlawful application of force (2) to the person of another (3) resulting in either bodily injury or an offensive touching.

**Note: A battery can be, but need not be intentional, and the force need not be applied directly.

Question 23

What is assault?

Answer 23

Assault is either (1) an attempt to commit a battery (specific intent) or (2) the intentional creation (not mere words alone) of a reasonable apprehension (in the mind of a victim) of imminent bodily harm.

**Note: Think of assault as two separate crimes. Make sure to analyze both.

Question 24

False imprisonment

Answer 24

False imprisonment consists of (1) the unlawful confinement of a person (2) w/o his valid consent.

Question 25

Kidnapping

Answer 25

Modern statutes often define kidnapping as the unlawful confinement of a person that involves either (1) some movement of the victim, or (2) concealment of the victim in a “secret” place.

Question 26

Rape

Answer 26

The unlawful carnal knowledge of a woman by a man, not her husband, w/o her effective consent.

**Note: the slightest penetration is sufficient.

Question 27

Statutory Rape

Answer 27

Carnal knowledge of a person under the age of consent.

**Note: strict liability crime

Question 28

Robbery

Answer 28

Robbery consists of (1) a taking (2) of personal property of another (3) from the other person’s presence (4) by force or threats of immediate death or physical injury to the victim, his family, or someone in the victims presence; (5) with the intent to permanently deprive him of it.

Question 29

Larceny

Answer 29

Larceny consists of a taking (obtaining control) and carrying away (asportation) of tangible personal property of another (w/possession) by trespass (w/o consent) with intent to permanently deprive

Question 30

Embezzlement

Answer 30

Embezzlement consist of (1) the fraudulent (2) conversion (3) of personal property (4) of another (5) by a person in lawful possession of that property.

**Note: the intent required is the intent to defraud.

Question 31

False pretense

Answer 31

False pretense consists of (1) obtaining title (2) to personal property of another (3) by an intentional false statement (of a past or existing fact) (4) with intent to defraud the other.

Question 32

Receipt of stolen property

Answer 32

Receipt of stolen property consists of (1) receiving possession and control (2) of stolen personal property (3) known to be obtained in a criminal manner (4) by another person (5) with the intent permanently deprive the owner of his interest.

Question 33

Extortion

Answer 33

Common law extortion consists of (1) the corrupt collection (2) of an unlawful fee (3) by an officer (4) under color of office.

**Note: under modern law, extortion often consists of obtaining property by means of threats to do harm or to expose information.

Question 34

Burglary

Answer 34

Burglary consists of (1) a breaking (2) and entry (3) of a dwelling (4) of another (5) at nighttime (6) with the intent to commit a felony in the structure (the intent to commit the felony must exist at the time of entry).

**Note: MPC(modern)-Does not have to be at night and can be in a commercial building.

Question 35

Arson

Answer 35

Arson consists of (1) the malicious (2) burning (3) of the dwelling (4) of another.

Question 36

What are the defenses to criminal law?

Answer 36

Insanity- a defense to all crimes

Intoxication
Voluntary- only a defense to specific intent crimes.
Involuntary-form of insanity

Infancy
Under age 7, no criminal liability
Under age 14, rebuttable presumption of no criminal liability

Self Defense

Duress- The person acts under the threat of (1) imminent infliction of death or great bodily harm, and (2) that belief is reasonable. Defense to all crimes except homies.

Necessity-It is a defense to crime if the person reasonably believed that commission of the crime was necessary to avoid an imminent and greater injury to society than that involved in the crime.

Mistake of fact

Mistake of law

Consent

Entrapment