Essential Elements of a Crime

Question 1

Elements of a Crime

Answer 1

1) A physical act (actus reus)
2) A mental state (mens rea)
3) Causation
4) Concurrence

Question 2

Two categories of Physical acts

Answer 2

1) commissions - voluntary physical acts
2) commissions - failure to act under circumstances imposing a legal duty to act

Question 3

Physical Acts - Commissions

Answer 3

All bodily movements are physical acts that can be the basis for criminal liability, provided they are voluntary

Involuntary movements are not considered criminal acts and include:
– One that is not the product of the actor’s volition
– sleepwalking or otherwise unconscious conduct
– a reflex or convulsion

Question 4

Physical Acts - Omissions

Answer 4

A failure to act can also be the basis of criminal liability provided the following are satisfied:

1) there is a legal duty to act
2) you have knowledge of the facts giving rise to the legal duty to act; and
3) it is reasonably possible to perform the legal duty

Question 5

Legal Duty to Act

Answer 5

A legal duty to act can be created in five different ways:

1) by statute
2) by contract
3) by the status relationship between the defendant and victim
4) by the voluntary assumption of care
5) by the creation of peril

Question 6

What are the different common law mental states

Answer 6

1) specific intent
2) malice
3) general intent
4) strict liability

Question 7

Specific Intent (CL Mental State)

Answer 7

a specific intent crime requires not only doing the act, but also performing the act with a specific intent or objective in mind.

Question 8

Major Specific Intent Crimes

Answer 8

1) Assault - Intent to commit a battery
2) First Degree Premeditated Murder - premeditated intent to kill
3) Larceny - intent to permanently deprive the other of their interest in the property
4) Embezzlement - intent to defraud
5) False Pretenses - Intent to defraud
6) Robbery - intent to permanently deprive the other of their interest in the property
7) Forgery - intent to defraud
8) Burglary - intent to commit a felony in the dwelling
9) Solicitation - intent to have the person solicited commit the crime
10) Conspiracy - intent to have the crime completed
11) Attempt - Intent to complete the crime

Question 9

Defenses available only for specific intent crimes

Answer 9

1) voluntary intoxication
2) unreasonable mistake of fact

Question 10

Malice

Answer 10

the intent required for malice crimes is a reckless disregard of an obvious or high risk that the particular harmful result will occur

Malice crimes include:
1) common law murder
2) arson

Question 11

General Intent

Answer 11

General intent means the defendant has awareness of all factors constituting the crime - all that is required is the defendant be aware they are acting in the proscribed way and that any required attendant circumstances exist

Question 12

Inference of General Intent

Answer 12

A jury may infer the required general intent merely from the doing of the act

Question 13

General Intent Crimes

Answer 13

1) Battery
2) Forcible Rape
3) False Imprisonment
4) Kidnapping

Question 14

Strict Liability

Answer 14

A strict liability offense is one that does not require awareness of all of the factors constituting the crime - the defendant can be found guilty from the mere fact they committed the act

The defenses that negate state of mind are not available for strict liability offenses

Question 15

Two Types of Strict Liability Crimes

Answer 15

1) Public Welfare Offenses - regulatory offenses that implicate public health of safety and typically carry small penalties

– Transferring unregistered firearms
– Selling contaminated food
– shipping adulterated drugs in interstate commerce

2) Statutory Rape - Having sex with someone who is under the age of consent

Question 16

Model Penal Code (MPC) Mental States

Answer 16

1) Purposely
2) Knowingly
3) Recklessly
4) Negligently
5) Strict Liability

Question 17

Purposely

Answer 17

A person act purposely when their conscious object is to engage in certain conduct or cause a certain result - the result is what they wanted to do

Question 18

Knowingly

Answer 18

A person acts knowingly with respect to the nature of their conduct when they are aware that their conduct is of a particular nature or that certain circumstances exist

NOTE – a person is deemed to be aware of circumstances when they are aware of a high probability that they exist and deliberately avoid learning the truth

A person acts knowingly with respect to the result of their conduct when they know their conduct will necessarily or very likely cause a particular result

Question 19

Recklessly

Answer 19

A person acts recklessly when they consciously disregard a substantial or unjustified risks that circumstances exist or that a prohibited result will follow, and this disregard constitutes a gross deviation from the standard of care that a reasonable person would exercise in that situation.

NOTE– this involves both objective (unjustified risk) and subjective (awareness) elements

Question 20

Negligently

Answer 20

A person acts negligently when they fail to be aware of a substantial and unjustified risk, where such failure is a substantial deviation from the standard of care. (objective standard)

Question 21

Strict Liability (MPC)

Answer 21

similar to common law, no mental state is required for strict liability offenses

Question 22

Causation

Answer 22

Some crimes (such as homicide) require result and causation

When a crime requires not only conduct but also a specified result, the defendant’s conduct must be both the cause in fact and the proximate cause of the specified result

Question 23

Actual Causation

Answer 23

A defendant is an actual cause if the result would have have occurred but for the defendant’s conduct

NOTE – an accelerating cause is actual causation (shooting someone with terminal cancer)

Question 24

Proximate Causation

Answer 24

A defendant is a proximate cause if the result is a natural and probable consequence of the defendant’s conduct, even if the defendant did not anticipate the precise manner in which the result occurred.

Question 25

Intervening Causes (Proximate Causation)

Answer 25

The defendant will not be considered a proximate cause if an unforeseeable intervening event causes the bad result

NOTE – a third party’s negligent medical care and the victim’s refusal of medical treatment for religious reasons are both foreseeable risks (defendant is still liable)

Question 26

Eggshell Victims

Answer 26

The defendant will be considered a proximate cause even if the victim’s preexisting weakness contributed to the bad result

Question 27

Concurrence

Answer 27

The defendant must have had the intent necessary for the crime at the time they committed the act constituting the crime, and the intent must have prompted the act.

NOTE – Concurrence issues often arise with respect to larceny and burglary