Criminal Elements (defenses)

Question 1

Criminal responsibility attaches upon proof of the following

Answer 1

1. A prohibition or duty imposed by law;
2. Act or omission necessary for the crime;
3. A guilty mind accompanying the conduct or omission; and
4. The absence of any defense

Question 2

Insanity

Answer 2

a. that at the time of committing the crime, the defendant had a mental disease or mental
defect;
b. that the disease or defect was such that deprived him of the capacity to distinguish
between right and wrong with reference to the conduct in question.

Question 3

Involuntary Intoxication

Answer 3

(i) the defendant must have unknowingly or involuntarily ingested an intoxicant;
(ii) the defendant must have engaged in the prohibited conduct while he was in the throes
of the involuntarily ingested substance

Question 4

voluntary intoxication

Answer 4

(i) it must be a specific intent crime, and
(ii) Intoxication precluded the formation of specific intent for the crime

Question 5

Mistake of Fact

Answer 5

(i) it must be a factual mistake,
(ii) it must preclude the presence of the mental element required for the crime;
(iii) it must be reasonable

Question 6

Mistake negating intent

Answer 6

1. misappropriation of another’s property under a reasonable belief that the defendant owned an interest in the property.

Question 7

Necessity Defense

Answer 7

Society requires that people choose the less of two competing evils, in this case they are (the crime) and (the result of not committing the crime). Bringing about the lesser harm must avoid the greater harm

Question 8

Compulsion

Answer 8

When any crime, except murder, is committed through the compulsion of threats by another of death or
great bodily harm and the offender reasonably believes the person making the threats is present and
would immediately carry out the threats if the crimes were not committed

Question 9

Self Defense

Answer 9

objective: would a reasonable person in like circumstances have made the same decision
subjective: did the defendant feel that the amount of force used was reasonable

Question 10

Defense of others

Answer 10

A person defending another can step into the shoes of the person defended and do
whatever that other person could have done to protect himself.

Question 11

Aggressor Doctrine

Answer 11

The aggressor cannot reclaim the right to self-defense unless they:
1. retreat from the conflict in good faith
2. It is in a manner that the adversary knows they wish to retreat

Question 12

Provocation

Answer 12

The subjective test: whether the defendant lost self-control and whether his blood was still boiling at the time the homicide was committed.
The objective test: whether the act was enough to cause a reasonable man to lose self-control and whether a reasonable man’s blood would have cooled.