Elements of a Crime 2

Question 1

MPC 2.02: Culpable Mental States

Answer 1

1) Intentionally (purposely)
2) Knowingly
3) Recklessly
4) Negligently

Question 2

Common Law: Intentionally

Answer 2

A person acts with intent to cause the prohibited harm if:

1) It is his or her desire to cause the harm (“conscious object”)
2) He or she acts with the knowledge that the harm is virtually certain to occur as a result of his or her conduct.

Question 3

MPC: Intentionally [Purposely]

Answer 3

A person acts purposely when:

1) It is his conscious object to engage in conduct of the prohibited nature or cause such a result.
2) If the element involves the attendant circumstances, he is aware of the existence of the circumstances or believes or hopes that they exist.

Question 4

Statutory - Illinois: Intentionally

Answer 4

A person acts intentionally when his conscious objective or purpose is to accomplish a prohibited result or engage in prohibited conduct.

Question 5

MPC / ILLINOIS (Knowingly)

Answer 5

A person acts with knowledge when:

1) He is aware that his conduct is of the prohibited nature or that those circumstances exist.
2) He is aware that the prohibited result is practically certain to be caused by his conduct.

**Under the MPC and Illinois law, intent and knowledge lie on a continuum such that intent is a higher form of knowledge.

Question 6

Negligence: Illinois [MPC]

Answer 6

1) The person fails to be aware of a substantial and unjustifiable risk that circumstances exist or a result will follow.
2) That failure constitutes a substantial deviation from the standard of care that a reasonable person would exercise in the situation.

Question 7

Recklessly

Answer 7

• Consciously disregards a substantial and unjustifiable risk that the material element exists or will result from his conduct.
• Involves a gross deviation from the standard of conduct that law-abiding person would observe in the actor’s shoes.

Question 8

Recklessness or Negligence?

Answer 8

• defendant’s awareness is the key distinction between reckless and negligence.
• Negligence concerns an inadvertent risk of which a reasonable person would have been aware.
• Recklessness implicates subjective fault – a devil may care or not give a damn attitude

Question 9

General intent

Answer 9

requires mens rea to perform a prohibited act.

• Second Degree Murder
• Assault
• Arson
• Rape

Question 10

Specific intent

Answer 10

requires mens rea to perform a prohibited act with premeditation or plan to do a further act.

• First Degree Murder
• Burglary
• Larceny
• Attempt

Question 11

Voluntary Intoxication: Statutory - Illinois

Answer 11

• criminally responsible for his conduct unless his intoxication is so extreme as to suspend the power of reason and render him incapable of forming a specific intent[.]

Question 12

MPC: Recklessness Exception (to voluntary intoxication)

Answer 12

• voluntary intoxication cannot negate conscious disregard of a risk.
• defendant is voluntarily intoxicated and – due to his intoxication – is unaware of a risk of which he would have been aware had he been sober he is still reckless.

Question 13

General / Specific Intent & MPC

Answer 13

Model Penal Code does MPC does not distinguish between general intent and specific intent crimes.

Question 14

Involuntary Intoxication

Answer 14

result from the ingestion of an intoxicating substance either without knowledge of its nature or under direct duress imposed by another.

Question 15

Mistake of Fact

Answer 15

• A defendant’s mistake as to a matter of fact affects - guilt only if it negates the required mental state.
• Most jurisdictions require that the mistake of fact is objectively reasonable to function as a defense.

Question 16

Mistake of Law: No Defense Unless. . .

Answer 16

1) The statute expressly states that knowledge of the illegality of conduct is an element of the offense.
2) The individual acts in reasonable reliance upon an official – though erroneous – statement of the law from a court or public officer.