Crime Flashcards
What are the basic elements of a crime?
Act, intent, causation, and concurrence.
What is required to establish causation in a crime?
The defendant’s acts must be both the actual and proximate cause of the outcome.
What does proximate cause refer to?
It is present if the outcome was foreseeable.
Define accomplice liability.
A person is guilty as an accomplice if he assists or encourages the principal with dual intents: (1) intent to assist the primary party, and (2) intent that the primary party commit the offense charged.
What is the mens rea required for murder?
Malice aforethought
Express Malice: This refers to the specific intent to kill or cause serious bodily harm.
Implied Malice: This occurs when the defendant demonstrates a conscious disregard for human life, often referred to as “depraved indifference”.
What distinguishes first-degree murder from second-degree murder?
First-degree murder requires intent to kill with premeditation and deliberation.
What is second-degree murder?
It is satisfied by the intent to inflict great bodily harm or by acting with reckless disregard of an extreme risk to human life.
What does felony murder apply to?
Any killing that occurs during the commission of a felony, an attempt to commit a felony, or a flight from a felony.
Define voluntary manslaughter.
An intentional killing of a human being without malice aforethought committed in the heat of passion due to adequate provocation.
What characterizes involuntary manslaughter?
The defendant causes death by engaging in conduct that creates an unreasonable risk of death or serious bodily injury.
What is the mens rea for an attempt crime?
Intent.
What must the prosecution prove to establish attempt?
- The defendant intended to commit the crime
- The defendant’s acts went sufficiently beyond mere preparation.
What is duress in criminal law?
The defendant commits a crime due to a threat or use of force that causes reasonable fear of imminent death or serious bodily injury.
What test do most states use for insanity?
The M’Naghten test.
What does the Fourth Amendment protect against?
Unreasonable searches and seizures.
What is required for a person to have standing to challenge a Fourth Amendment issue?
The person must have an expectation of privacy in the thing searched or seized.
What is the plain view exception?
Officers may seize an object without a warrant if its incriminating character is immediately apparent and they have a lawful right of access.
What is required for a Terry stop?
Reasonable, articulable suspicion that the individual has been involved in criminal activity.
What does the Fourteenth Amendment address regarding confessions?
Voluntariness under the Due Process Clause.
When does the Sixth Amendment right to counsel attach?
When judicial proceedings have begun.
What must law enforcement do during custodial interrogation according to the Fifth Amendment?
Read Miranda warnings to the suspect.
What is required for a valid Miranda waiver?
The suspect must make a knowing, intelligent, and voluntary waiver.
What is a valid Miranda invocation?
The suspect must be explicit, unambiguous, and unequivocal in making the request.
What happens if a Miranda violation occurs?
The statements are excluded from the prosecutor’s case-in-chief.
