Criminal Law Flashcards
Classification of Crimes:
A. Felony
1. Incarceration for
more than one
year and time is
served in prison.
B. Misdemeanor
1. Incarceration up
to one year, time
served in jail.
Quality of Offense
- Malum in Se- Evil in itself, inherently evil
- Malum Prohibitum- crime because it is prohibited by statue
Sources of Criminal Law
Common Law: Judge made law, law in effect at time of revolution.
Majority Rule: 26 of 51 jurisdictions
Minority Rule: High number is sufficient minority
Common Law Felonies- MR. & MRS. LAMB
M= Murder
R= Robbery
M= Manslaughter
R= Rape
S= Sodomy
L= Larceny
A= Arson
M= Mayhem
B= Burglary
- All Malum in Se & Capital Offenses*
Burden of Proof
- Presumption of Innocence: innocent until proven guilty
- Civil Cases: plaintiff has the burden of proof.
- Criminal Cases- State has the burden of proof
Degree of Proof
- Preponderance of Evidence= 50%+ & more likely than not.
- Beyond a reasonable doubt= 90-95%, not beyond a shadow of doubt.
Criminal Elements:
Actus Reus & Men’s Rea
Criminal Elements | Actus Reus
- Physical Act
- Voluntary Act
- Omission to Act
Criminal Elements | Actus Reus- Physical Act:
- physical part of crime
- guilty act
- over act
- need some bodily movement
- act is done volitionally
Criminal Elements | Actus Reus- Voluntary Act
1.) Conscience act of the will
2.) not a reflexive act
3.) not a convulsive act
4.) not performed while asleep or unconscious
Criminal Elements | Actus Reus- Omission to Act:
a. General Rule: no duty to act
b. Legal Duty to Act:
1.) Parent/Child &
Spouse:
(a) Parent w/
minor child
(b) Not adult
child to parent
(c) Minor child
put in custody
of relative.
2.) Contractual
Relationship;
3.) Public Servant;
4.) Statue;
5.) Creation of peril
or;
6.) Preclusion of
others
c. Knowledge of
Need to Act; and
reasonably
possible to
perform.
Crime elements | Men’s Rea
1.) Guilty Mind
2.) Specific Intent
3.) Malice
4.) General Intent
5.) Strict Liability
6.) Transferred Intent
7.) Model Penal Code
8.) Motive Distinguished
Crime Elements Men’s Rea | “specific intent” Part 1
a.) Defendant desires to commit the crime or knows with substantial certainty the crime will occur.
b.) Key Words: intent, intentionally, intentional.
Crime Elements Men’s Rea | “specific intent” Part 2- Crimes requiring
Crimes Requiring Specific Intent:
(1) Solicitation- intent to solicitee commit the crime.
(2) Attempt: intent to commit crime
(3) Conspiracy: Intent to have the crime committed
(4) 1st degree pre-meditated murder: intent to kill with premeditation & deliberation
(5) Assault (both types)
(a) Intent to commit
a battery
(b) intent to cause
reasonable
apprehension of
immediately
receiving a battery
(6) Larceny, larceny by trick, embezzlement, robbery, possession of stolen property: intent to permanently deprive other of his interest in the property.
(7) Burglary: Intent to commit felony therein
(8) Forgery: intent to defraud.
(9) False pretenses: Intent to defraud
e. All defenses available
Crime Elements Men’s Rea | “Malice”
a.) Intent to commit the crime or the crime occurs because of reckless disregard for obvious risk.
b.) Key Words: Malice, malicious or maliciously
c.) Crimes requiring Malice”
(1) Murder: Homicide
with malice.
(2) Arson: burning of
the dwelling house
of another with
malice.
(3) Mayhem:
dismemberment or
disablement of a
bodily part or
disfigurement with
malice.
d.) Some defenses are available plus mitigation
Crime Elements Men’s Rea | “General Intent”
a.) Intrnet is inferred
by defendants acts.
b.) Key Words: None
c.) Defenses that negate men’s rea are available.
d.) Crimes requiring
general intent:
(1) Manslaughter-
requires
wrongful act
(2) Rape;
(3) Battery;
(4) Kidnapping;
(5) False
Imprisonment;
(6) Misc.
Misdemeanors
e.) Some defenses are available.
Crime Elements Men’s Rea: Strict Liability
a.) No Men’s rea required, actus reus only
b.) Key Words: None
c.) No Men’s Rea to negate
d.) Common Strict Liability Offenses:
(1) Selling liquor to
minors.
(2) Statutory rape;
(3) Parking ticket, etc.
e.) Most defenses are
not available.
Crime Element’s Men’s Rea | “Model Penal Code (MPC)”
a. The MPC eliminates common law malice and the distinctions between general and specific intent.
b.) The MPC adopts categories of intent such as purposely, knowingly, recklessly, or negligence.
Criminal Elements- Men’s Rea: “Transferred Intent”
(a) Defendant can be liable under the doctrine of transferred intent where she/he intends to harm that is actually causes, but to a different victim or object.
(b) transferred intent applies to malice and general intent crimes, but not to specific intent crimes (except for first degree premeditated murder)
Crime Element’s Men’s Rea- “Motive Distinguished”
(a) Motive is the reason or explanation for the crime it is different from the intent to commit a crime.
(b) Traditionally, motive is immaterial to substantive criminal law.
(c) Modernly, motive is used as a sentence enhancement tool
Crime Elements | Concurrence of Actus Reus & Men’s Rea:
(1) Defendant must have had the requisite guilty mind at the same time that defendant performed the guilty act to be guilty of the crime
(2) The intent must have actuated the act. Whatever the act was, it must have been caused by the intent.
Inchoate Crimes | Homicide
a.) The Actus Reus of Manslaughter
b.) Definition: the killing of one human being by another.
Homicide | “The killing one human being”
1.) “The killing”: No means stated
2.) “Of One Human Being”:
(a) Begins:
(1) Born Alive
(2) Takes its 1st
breath
(3) Has circulatory
system
independent of
mother.
(b) Ends:
(1) Common Law:
heart & lungs
stop.
(2) Modernly: brain
dead.
Homicide | “By Another”- Proximate cause or legal cause
(1) Direct Cause:
(a) No intervening acts between defendant’s act & victim’s death.
(b) Defendant is the proximate cause if victim’s death is the e natural and probable result of defendant’s actions.
(2) Indirect Cause:
(a) There are no intervening acts between defendant’s act and victim’s death.
(b) Defendant is the proximate cause if the intervening acts are foreseeable.
Homicide | “By Another-Causation”
1.) By Another- Causation
(a) “by another”- actual cause or cause in fact.
(1) “But for” test
(2) Substantial Factor
test
(3) “Year & Day Rule”
(4) Pre-existing
conditions are not
taken into account.
Murder| Definition
The killing of one human being by another with malice aforethought; or homicide with malice.
Murder | Malice- Express
1.) Express: Intent to Kill
(a) Desire to kill
(b) Know with
substantial
certainty that a
death will occur.
(c) Deadly Weapon
Doctrine: deadly weapon used on vital part of body (neck, head, torso); The jury is free to infer intent to kill.
Murder |Malice - Implied
1.) The intent to commit serious bodily harm:
(a) A deadly weapon used on a non-vital part of the body;
(b) A non-deadly weapon used on a vital part of the body; or
(c) deadly weapon used on a vital part of body with evidence to show no intent to kill.
Murder | Malice- Implied | Wanton Conduct
(1) Wanton Conduct, Depraved Heart, extreme indifference to human life:
(a) Act that creates high risk of death; (b) Act of little/no social value (c) Act performed intentionally; and (d) Defendant is aware of the risk. (e) Examples: Shotting in an occupied structure or vehicle, playing Russian roulette, engaging in a shootout with the police.
