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Tessa Criminal Law and Procedure > Criminal Law Principles > Flashcards

Criminal Law Principles Flashcards

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1
Q

What must the D do to satisfy the actus reus requirement?

A

D must perform a voluntary physical act, i.e., a voluntary bodily movement.

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2
Q

When can an omission constitute actus reus?

A

(1) D had a specific legal duty to act;
(2) D had knowledge of facts giving rise to the duty; and
(3) It was reasonably possible for D to perform the duty

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3
Q

What are the three forms of mens rea at common law?

A
  1. specific intent
  2. general intent
  3. Malice
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4
Q

In what kinds of offenses is mens rea not required?

A

Strict liability offenses. Arises with administrative, regulatory, or morality crimes.

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5
Q

What is specific intent?

A

Specific intent or objective to commit the given crime. Specific intent must always be proven; never inferred.

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6
Q

What are available defenses to specific intent crimes?

A

Mistake of fact and voluntary intoxication.

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7
Q

What is general intent?

A

D must be aware of his actions and any attendant circumstances.
-may be inferred from the act itself

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8
Q

What is criminal malice?

A

D acts with reckless disregard or undertakes an obvious risk, from which a harmful result is expected.

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9
Q

What crimes does malice apply to?

A

Arson and common law murder.

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10
Q

Under the MPC, what are the four mens rea standards?

A
  1. purposely (subjective standard)
  2. knowingly (subjective standard)
  3. recklessly (subjective standard)
  4. negligence (objective standard)
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11
Q

When does a person act “purposely”?

A

When his conscious objective is to engage in certain conduct or cause a certain result.

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12
Q

When does a person act “knowingly”?

A

A person acts knowingly when he is aware that his conduct is of a particular nature or knows that his conduct will necessarily or very likely cause a particular result.

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13
Q

When does a person act “recklessly”?

A

A person acts recklessly when he knows of a substantial and unjustifiable risk and consciously disregards it.

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14
Q

When does a person act with criminal negligence?

A

A person acts negligently when he fails to become aware of a substantial and unjustifiable risk.

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15
Q

D’s criminal act must occur _________________ with the requisite mens rea for the crime.

A

Concurrently.
Ex: D plans on murdering victim at her home – D is not guilty of murder if he accidentally runs over victim with his car before reaching her house.

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16
Q

D’s conduct must be both the ______________ and the ___________________ of the crime committed.

A

Cause-in-fact; proximate cause

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17
Q

For homicide and manslaughter, any act that ___________________, even if death was inevitable, is deemed a cause-in fact.

A

Hastens.

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18
Q

What is criminal proximate cause?

A

The actual result is the natural and probable consequence of D’s conduct, even it did did not occur exactly as expected.

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19
Q

Intervening acts will only shield a D from criminal liability if they are ___________________.

A

Entirely unforeseeable. Hard standard – victim’s refusal of medical treatment, third-party medical negligence, are both foreseeable and D is liable.

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20
Q

What are the 10 specific intent crimes?

A
  1. Attempt
  2. Larceny/Robbery
  3. Forgery
  4. False Pretenses
  5. Embezzlement
  6. Conspiracy
  7. Assault
  8. Burglary
  9. First-degree murder
  10. Solicitation
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21
Q

What is the specific intent required for attempt?

A

Intent to complete the crime.

22
Q

What is the specific intent required for larceny and robbery?

A

Intent to permanently deprive victim of his interest in the property taken.

23
Q

What is the specific intent required for forgery, false pretenses, and embezzlement?

A

Intent to defraud.

24
Q

What is the specific intent required for conspiracy?

A

Intent to aid or encourage completion of the crime

25
Q

What is the specific intent necessary for assault?

A

Intent to commit battery

26
Q

What is the specific intent to commit burglary?

A

Intent to commit a felony in another’s dwelling.

27
Q

What is the specific intent required for first-degree murder?

A

Premeditation and/or deliberation

28
Q

What is the specific intent required for solicitation?

A

Intent to have solicitee commit the solicited crime.

29
Q

Who is an accomplice?

A

One who aids, encourages, or counsels principals committing a crime, with the intent to encourage its commission.

30
Q

Is mere presence at the crime enough to be an accomplice?

A

No. There must be some assistance.

31
Q

What is an accomplice liable for?

A

The original crime and other foreseeable crimes committed by the principles in its furtherance.

32
Q

What is the defense to accomplice liability?

A

Withdrawal.

33
Q

When can a D effectively withdraw?

A

Can effectively withdraw before the crime is committed or becomes unstoppable.

34
Q

What must a D do to effectively withdraw?

A

D must repudiate his encouragement and/or neutralize his initial aid.

If you are only an encourager, you repudiate before crime is committed.

If you aid then you must neutralize the assistance or otherwise prevent the crime from happening maybe by calling the authorities.

35
Q

What are the two exceptions to accomplice liability?

A
  1. member of a protected class = those protected by a criminal statute are not liable as accomplices
    Ex: minor-victims in statutory rape cases are not liable as accomplices
  2. parties not provided for in the statute – e.g. a purchaser of drugs cannot be an accomplice to the seller
36
Q

What is the crime of being an accessory after the fact?

A

Different than accomplice liability. Involves helping someone escape or avoid apprehension; gives rise to a separate, lesser charge of obstruction of justice.

37
Q

What are 4 major general intent crimes?

A
  1. Battery
  2. Rape
  3. Kidnapping
  4. False Imprisonment
38
Q

What are the two major crimes that require malice?

A
  1. common law murder (malice aforethought)

2. arson

39
Q

What four categories of crimes have strict liability?

A
  1. statutory rape
  2. regulatory crimes
  3. administrative crimes
  4. morality crimes (i.e. bigamy, polygamy)
40
Q

What is the doctrine of transferred intent (crim)?

A

D may be held liable if he intends the harm caused, but causes it to a different victim or object than intended.

(Often applies to homicide, battery, arson).

41
Q

To what offense does transferred intent not apply?

A

Attempt.

42
Q

What are the most common crimes to which transferred intent applies?

A

homicide, battery, arson

43
Q

Can defenses and mitigating circumstances be transferred?

A

Yes.

44
Q

What is the effect of the transferred intent doctrine?

A

D is usually charged with two crimes:

  1. Attempt (to commit the originally intended crime)
  2. The actual resulting crime

Ex: D intends to shoot A, but kills B; D can be charged with the attempted murder of A and the actual murder of B.

*NOTE: merger doesn’t apply because there are two different victims.

45
Q

To what relationships does merger apply?

A
  1. an inchoate offense and its completed substantive offense

2. an offense and its lesser included offense

46
Q

What happens when merger applies?

A

The two offenses merge, prohibiting D from being prosecuted for both crimes.

47
Q

What two inchoate offenses does merger apply to?

A
  1. solicitation
  2. attempt

Merger prevents D from being convicted of both solicitation/attempt and the target offense.

E.g. D completes a burglary after attempting it; D cannot be convicted of both attempt and burglary.

48
Q

Does merger apply to conspiracy?

A

No. D can be convicted of conspiracy to commit a given crime and the crime itself.

49
Q

What is a lesser included offense?

A

Consists of the same but not all elements as the greater crime.

E.g., D’s robbery accomplice kills V during robbery; D can be convicted of felony murder but not the lesser included robbery offense.

50
Q

Crimes with different victims never ______.

A

Merge.

Tessa Criminal Law and Procedure (8 decks)

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