CRIMINAL LAW

Question 1

Jurisdiction

Answer 1

For purposes of criminal law, jurisdiction is the authority of a body ti crate substantive criminal law; jurisdiction includes the ability of a court to enforce the criminal laws.

Question 2

Actus Reus

Answer 2

Under common law, the actus reus is any voluntary physical act or failure to act when a legal duty is imposed.

Question 3

Mens Rea

Answer 3

Under common law, mens rea is the mental state required to show that the prohibited act or omission was committed with a “guilty mind”, strict liability crimes does not requires mens rea.

Question 4

Specific Intent Crimes

Answer 4

Under common law, a specific intent crime requires that the defendant performed the actus reus with the specific objective of achieving a prohibited result (or knowledge that the result would occur).

Question 5

Malice Crimes

Answer 5

Under common law, a malice crime requires that the defendant recklessly disregarded an obvious or known risk that a particularly harmful result would occur.

Question 6

General Intent Crime

Answer 6

Under common law, a general intent crime requires only that the defendant had awareness of the act, not that he had the intent to commit the crime, which can be inferred form the act itself.

Question 7

Strict Liability Crime

Answer 7

Under common law, a strict liability crime does not require that the defendant had a requisite intent or mental state when the act was committed. In other words, the defendant’s mental state is irrelevant.

Question 8

The M’Naghten Rule

Answer 8

Under the M’Naghten rule, a defendant raising an insanity defense must prove that he had a mental illness that resulted in a diminished mental capacity to reason, and this diminished ability to reason resulted in his inability to understand either the criminality of his conduct or the nature of his act.

Question 9

Self-Defense

Answer 9

Under common law, a person may use force that is reasonably necessary to protect against injury when he reasonably believes he is facing an immediate threat of force.

Question 10

Deadly Force

Answer 10

Under common law, deadly force that is either intended to or likely to cause death.

Question 11

Entrapment

Answer 11

Under common law, entrapment is available as a defense if the intent to commit a crime originated with the police or other law enforcement rather than with the defendant, and the defendant was not predisposed to commit the crime.

Question 12

Murder

Answer 12

Under common law, murder is the unlawful killing of another human being with malice aforethought.

Question 13

Doctrine of Transferred Intent

Answer 13

Under common law, if the defendant intends a harmful result to a particular person or object and, in carrying out that intent, causes a similar result to another person or object, the defendant’s intent will be transferred to the person or object actually harmed.

Question 14

Manslaughter

Answer 14

Under common law, manslaughter is the unlawful killing of another human being without malice aforethought. Manslaughter is classified as either voluntary manslaughter and involuntary manslaughter.

Question 15

Voluntary Manslaughter

Answer 15

Under common law, voluntary manslaughter is an intentional homicide that differs from murder because of the existence of extenuating circumstances such a provocation.

Question 16

Involuntary Manslaughter

Answer 16

Under common law, involuntary manslaughter is an unintentional homicide, committed without malice, which is neither justified nor excused.

Question 17

Misdemeanor Manslaughter

Answer 17

Under common law, misdemeanor manslaughter is a homicide that occurs during the commission of an unlawful act that is not a felony.

Question 18

Battery

Answer 18

Under common law, battery is the unlawful application of force to another which results in bodily harm or offensive touching.

Question 19

Assault

Answer 19

Under common law, assault is (1) an attempted battery or (2) intentionally placing another person in reasonable apprehension of suffering an immediate battery.

Question 20

Rape

Answer 20

Under common law, rape is unlawful sexual intercourse with a woman by force and without consent.

Question 21

Statutory Rape

Answer 21

As a general rule, statutory rape is sexual intercourse with a person under the minimum age determined by statute, even if the person freely participated in the act.

Question 22

Kidnapping

Answer 22

Under common law, kidnapping is the unlawful confining (false imprisoning) and transporting of a victim from one place to another without the victim’s consent through force or fraud.

Question 23

Larceny

Answer 23

Under common law, larceny is the taking and carrying away of the tangible personal property of another by trespass with intent to permanently deprived the other of the property.

Question 24

Embezzlement

Answer 24

Under common law, embezzlement is the fraudulent appropriation or conversion of personal property of another by one to whom the owner has entrusted possession

Question 25

False Pretenses

Answer 25

Under common law, false pretenses is obtaining title to the property by an intentional misrepresentation of fact with the specific intent to defraud the original titleholder.

Question 26

Receipt of Stolen Property

Answer 26

Under common law, receipt of stolen property is receiving possession and control of stolen property with knowledge that the property was obtained in a criminal way by another person and with intent to permanently deprive the owner of the property.

Question 27

Robbery

Answer 27

Under common law, robbery is the taking and carrying away of the tangible personal property of another by trespass, by force or threats of force, with intent to permanently deprive the other of the property. Robbery requires all elements of larceny, plus the additional element of force or threats of force.

Question 28

Extortion

Answer 28

Under common law, extortion is obtaining property from another by another by written or oral threats of physical harm or other improper threats of harm.

Question 29

Forgery

Answer 29

Under common law, forgery is the making or altering of a false writing with intent to defraud.

Question 30

Burglary

Answer 30

Under common law, burglary is the braking and entering into the dwelling of another at night with the intent to comment a felony inside.

Question 31

Arson

Answer 31

Under common law, arson is the malicious burning of a dwelling of another.

Question 32

Attempt

Answer 32

Under common law, attempt occurs when the defendant engages in conduct in the direction of committing a crime with the specific intent to commit the crime, but fall short of completing the crime.

Question 33

Conspiracy

Answer 33

Under common law, a conspiracy is an agreement between two or more persons to commit a criminal act or to accomplish a legal act by unlawful means.

Question 34

Solicitation

Answer 34

Under common law, solicitation occurs when a person, with the specific intent that another person commit a crime, solicits, request, commands, importunes, or otherwise attempts to cause that person to commit the crime.

Question 35

Principal In the First Degree

Answer 35

Under common law, a principal is the actual perpetrator.

Question 36

Principal In the Second Degree

Answer 36

Under common law, a principal in the Second Degree is one who is criminally liable for the offense, but was not present at the scene of the crime.

Question 37

Accessory Before the Fact.

Answer 37

Under common law, an accessory before the fact is one who either conspired with the actual perpetrator or one who aided, advised, or facilitated the commission of the crime.

Question 38

Accessory After the Fact

Answer 38

Under common law, an accessory after the fact is one who knew of the felony and personally gave aid to the felon after the completion of the felony.