Defenses

Question 1

Self-defense

Answer 1

A person has a right to apply self-defense against unlawful force if reasonable force is used; deadly force may only be used in response to deadly force.

Question 2

Imperfect self-defense

Answer 2

Where a person uses self-defense resulting in death and had made an unreasonable mistake about the need to do so, murder charges can be reduced to charges of voluntary manslaughter.

Question 3

Defense of others

Answer 3

Defense of others: It is permissible to use reasonable force to defend another when one reasonably believes that the other person would be justified in using such force and the amount of force used is reasonable.
1. Minority rule: “Stands in shoes,” which means a party may only defend another if the person being defended was justified in using self-defense.

Question 4

Defense of property

Answer 4

allows an individual to use a reasonable amount of force, though never deadly force, to protect his real or personal property.

Question 5

Defense of insanity

Answer 5

Defense of insanity: Depending on the jurisdiction, there are various tests for insanity.
1. M'Naghten Test
2. Irresistible Impulse
3. Durham Test
4.

Question 6

M’Naghten test for insanity

Answer 6

M’Naghten test: The defendant must show that he suffered from a mental disease causing a defect in his reasoning powers that resulted in him not understanding the nature and quality of his act or that he did not know that his act was wrong.

Question 7

Irresistible impulse test for insanity

Answer 7

The defendant must show that he was unable to control his conduct due to a mental illness.

Question 8

Durham test for insanity

Answer 8

The defendant must show that his conduct was the product of a mental illness.

Question 9

Model Penal Code test for insanity

Answer 9

The defendant must show that he lacked substantial capacity to appreciate the criminality of his conduct or conform his conduct to the requirements of the law. (This is a blend of the other three tests.)

Question 10

Diminished Capacity Test for Insanty

Answer 10

Some states recognize this. Here D may assert that as a result of a mental defect short of insanity, he did not have the mental state required for the crime charged. Most states allowing the diminished capacity defense limit it to specific intent crimes, but a few states allow it for general intent crimes as well.

Question 11

Intoxication

Answer 11

Intoxication may be caused by any substance. It may be raised whenever intoxication negates one of the elements of the crime.

Question 12

Involuntary intoxication

Answer 12

is treated as an illness and may be a defense to all crimes, as it negates the intent to commit the crime when an intoxicating substance is ingested unknowingly or under duress.

Question 13

Voluntary, self-induced intoxication

Answer 13

is only a defense to specific intent crimes (first-degree murder, assault, incomplete crimes, property crimes) such that the intoxication may have prevented the defendant from formulating the requisite specific intent.

Question 14

Necessity

Answer 14

Necessity may be a defense if the defendant reasonably believed that commission of the crime was necessary to avoid an imminent and greater injury to society than that involved in the crime.

Question 15

Mistake

Answer 15

1. A mistake of fact may negate a specific intent crime as well as malice, and may negate a general intent crime if the mistake was reasonable.
2. A mistake of law is generally not a defense.

Question 16

Impossibility

Answer 16

1. Factual impossibility arises when the defendant makes a mistake concerning an issue of fact. This is not a valid defense.
2. Legal impossibility arises when the defendant incorrectly believes that what he is doing is criminal when it is not. This is a valid defense.

Question 17

Entrapment

Answer 17

Exists where a law enforcement official, or someone cooperating with him, induces the defendant to commit the crime that he wasn’t otherwise predisposed to commit.

Question 18

Resisting Arrest

Answer 18

Non-deadly force may be used to resist an improper arrest even if a known officer is making that arrest. Deadly force may be used, however, only if the person does not know that the person arresting him is a police officer.