Criminal Law General

Question 1

What are examples of felonies?

Answer 1

Burglary, arson, robbery, rape, larceny, murder, manslaughter, mayhem

Question 2

Examples of misdemeanor crime?

Answer 2

Assault, battery, assault with a deadly weapon

Question 3

What are categories of parties participating in a criminal act?

Answer 3

Principal in the first degree; principal in the second degree; accessory b4 the fact; accessory aft the fact. Accessories may also be referred to as accomplices or aiders and abetters.

Question 4

What is the principal in the first degree?

Answer 4

Main actor. Actual actor. The shooter. The robber. Could be more than one.

Question 5

What is the principal in the second degree?

Answer 5

One who is on the scene but not directly participating in the crime – for example the look out or the getaway car driver.

Question 6

What is an accessory before the fact?

Answer 6

One who is not on the scene but, with knowledge of the crime to be committed, has in some way encouraged or facilitate the crime. For example, provided helpful information, provided money, a car, a gun.

Question 7

What is an accessory after the fact?

Answer 7

One who is not on the scene but who knows about the completion of the crime and helps in some way – for example, hiding someone, helping someone to flee, destroying evidence. No knowledge. No accessory after the fact.

Question 8

What is criminal liability of the accomplice/accessory/aider abettor?

Answer 8

Accomplices before the crime are just as guilty as the principal, even if they are not at the scene, provided the government can prove intentionally aided in the commission of a crime, in other words shared the criminal intent of the principal. This means that the gov must prove that the accomplice realizes (not actual knowledge; reasonably foreseeable) that the principal is going to commit a crime and that the accomplice intends to help the crime succeed.

Question 9

What is the criminal liability of an accomplice after the fact?

Answer 9

In most states, accessories after the fact face far less punishment than accomplices or principals.

Question 10

What is enterprise liability?

Answer 10

A corp or an association can be held liable for the act performed by an agent in the course of employment or a corporate officer of high enough rank to reflect the intent of the corporation.

Question 11

What is the merger doctrine?

Answer 11

In criminal law, if a defendant commits a single act that simultaneously fulfills the definition of two separate offenses, merger will occur. This means that the lesser of the two offences will drop out, and the defendant will only be charged with the greater offense. This prevents double jeopardy problems from arising. Put another way, if each crime has different elements, the crimes won’t merge. And If one crime is completed before another, there’s no merger. For example, if a defendant robs a store clerk at gunpoint and takes money from the cash register, and then he hits the clerk in the head with the gun, the crimes of armed robbery and aggravated assault don’t merge

Question 12

What are examples of crimes that merge?

Answer 12

Provided a single incident, attempt always mergers into the actual crime, i.e., a defendant cannot be convicted of both attempt and the target crime. Assault merges into robbery (robbery includes an assault). Larceny merges into robbery, BUT ONLY IF larceny occurs from the person. Solicitation and the target crime merge.

Question 13

What are examples of crimes that do not merge?

Answer 13

Conspiracy and the target crime do not merge. Burglary and larceny do not merge – different elements, including breaking an entering).

Question 14

What are the general requirements of a crime?

Answer 14

Physical act; voluntary act (generally to reflexive or forced); mental state (mens rea); intent (general or specific); concurrence or closeness in time between act and result; causation or link between voluntary act and the crime.

Question 15

What are examples of involuntary acts?

Answer 15

Reflexive bodily movement; convulsion (due to epilepsy for e.g.); act done while unconscious, sleeping – like sleep walking; act done bc forced to do it. Beware, though, that if you have a condition that you know to cause dangerous reflexive actions, you could be criminally liable for consequences of that act.

Question 16

Can failure to act result in criminal liability?

Answer 16

Generally, no. Failure to act does not equal a voluntary act., UNLESS there is a corresponding duty to act.

Question 17

What are possible bases for a duty to act, trumping general rule of no duty to affirmatively act?

Answer 17

statute (like hit and run); contract (passengers in common carrier); personal relationship (between family members); voluntary assumption of aid when no duty to do so; peril created by the defendant (like refusing to rescue when peril is defendant’s fault). (If defendant is unable to act for some reason, may be excused from liability – for example, disabled, unconscious, etc.)

Question 18

When is criminal intent gauged?

Answer 18

Generally, at the time of the crime. After-acquired intent will not relate back for most criminal offenses Eg, in burglary the requisite intent to commit a felony must exist before the break in. The intent to steal which arose after the break in will only relate back for larceny and robbery.

Question 19

What is major exception to general rule that intent will not related back?

Answer 19

Larceny. If take something not intending to steal it and later decide to steal it (e.g. keep it rather than pay for it or returning it), the later arising intent is transferred back to the time of the original taking. Sometimes called doctrine of continuing trespass.

Question 20

What is general intent?

Answer 20

Only the intent to do the act which is prohibited by law. Whether the defendant intended the act’s result is not relevant to general intent crimes.

Question 21

What is specific intent?

Answer 21

Specific intent crimes typically require that the defendant intentionally commit an act and intend to cause a particular result when committing that act. In that regard, merely knowing that a result is likely isn’t the same as specifically intending to bring it about. Put another way, prosecution must show that D had a specific purpose in mind, that is spelled out in statute (with words like intentionally, knowingly, purposefully, willfully)

Question 22

What are examples of general intent crimes?

Answer 22

Battery – the intent to do the act which resulted in the unwanted touching; rape; arson – intent to do the act which results in burning of a property of another, whether D intended the burning or not; involuntary manslaughter; 2nd degree murder

Question 23

What are examples of specific intent crimes?

Answer 23

Burglary; robbery; assault; 1st degree murder; attempt; conspiracy; theft offenses including larceny, larceny by trick, false pretenses, embezzlement; soclitation.

Question 24

What is malice?

Answer 24

Malice is a type of intent required for some crimes, often involving death or injury. Malice is often defined as an intent to kill someone or cause him or her great bodily harm, orcreate a high risk of death or great bodily harm with knowledge that such a result is probable.

Question 25

What are examples of crimes requiring a showing of malice?

Answer 25

Arson – “malicious” bring of a structure of another. Must show burning is intentional or reckless, not negligent. Common-law murder – unlawful killing of someone with malice aforethought.

Question 26

How can malice be proven?

Answer 26

Showing an intent to kill or to perpetrate great bodily harm; implied – gross negligence or a malignant heart. Felony murder – implied. Can be implied by use of a deadly weapon – gun, knife, club, car, even fist, depending.

Question 27

What are strict liability crimes?

Answer 27

Mental state irrelevant. Merely doing the act is sufficient and per se illegal.

Question 28

What are examples of strict liability crimes?

Answer 28

Traffic offenses; regulatory offenses as in firearms, food and drug; failure to file tax returns; selling prohibited items to minors; statutory rape; bigamy.

Question 29

What is causation in the criminal context?

Answer 29

D’s act must be the actual (but for) and proximate cause of the criminal result–the result was foreseeable and the natural and probable cause of the act. Even if there are intervening causes and forces, will not relieve D. of responsibility unless the cause is superseding. For example, if a victim of a shooting dies bc refuses medical treatment due to religious beliefs, D still responsible for murder. Likewise, if there is intervening medical negligence or pulling the plug, still guilty. Did the original act set in motion a series of foreseeable consequences? Shoot someone in arm, as they run away slip and die, caused death. Pre-existing condition not superseding (take victim as find them; think skull rule).

Question 30

What are examples of non-superseding causes?

Answer 30

Pre-existing condition; negligent medical treatment (but not grossly negligent); victim getting injured while running away from perpetrators (other acts by victim may be superseding)

Question 31

When is an intervening factor sufficient to be superseding cause?

Answer 31

Must not be foreseeable and must be dominant cause of harm. If concurrent cause of harm, not sufficient to break causation. EXAMPLE: 1) After coming out of her house one morning, Betty is attacked and beaten almost to death by Wilma. Jack Kavorkian is a well-respected physician who happens to be walking by and sees Betty lying in the street. Dr. Kavorkian examines Betty and knows for a medical certainty that Betty will die within the next few hours regardless of the medical attention she receives. Betty is in tremendous pain and Dr. Kavorkian decides to put her out of her misery. He pulls out his medical kit and injects Betty with some poison that he carries around in case of an emergency. In this case, even though Betty technically dies because Dr. Kavorkian poisoned her, Wilma can also be convicted for Betty’s death (in addition to Dr. Kavorkian) because Dr. Kavorkian’s action is not the sole cause of Betty’s death. Betty would have died anyway. All Dr. Kavorkian did was speed it up. That being the case, Dr. Kavorkian’s actions simply combined with Wilma’s actions to cause Betty’s death. Therefore they are considered concurrent proximate causes and both of them can be convicted.

Question 32

What is accomplice liability?

Answer 32

FROM FEDORA: Accomplice liability is one who aids and abets the commission of an unlawful act or one who shields or prevents the apprehension of the defendant by law enforcement after the unlawful act is committed. Accomplice liability is an umbrella concept that includes accessory before the fact and accessory after the fact.