Essential Elements of a Crime Flashcards
Elements of a Crime
1) A physical act (actus reus)
2) A mental state (mens rea)
3) Causation
4) Concurrence
Two categories of Physical acts
1) commissions - voluntary physical acts
2) commissions - failure to act under circumstances imposing a legal duty to act
Physical Acts - Commissions
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
Physical Acts - Omissions
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
Legal Duty to Act
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
What are the different common law mental states
1) specific intent
2) malice
3) general intent
4) strict liability
Specific Intent (CL Mental State)
a specific intent crime requires not only doing the act, but also performing the act with a specific intent or objective in mind.
Major Specific Intent Crimes
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
Defenses available only for specific intent crimes
1) voluntary intoxication
2) unreasonable mistake of fact
Malice
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
General Intent
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
Inference of General Intent
A jury may infer the required general intent merely from the doing of the act
General Intent Crimes
1) Battery
2) Forcible Rape
3) False Imprisonment
4) Kidnapping
Strict Liability
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
Two Types of Strict Liability Crimes
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
Model Penal Code (MPC) Mental States
1) Purposely
2) Knowingly
3) Recklessly
4) Negligently
5) Strict Liability
Purposely
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
Knowingly
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
Recklessly
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
Negligently
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)
Strict Liability (MPC)
similar to common law, no mental state is required for strict liability offenses
Causation
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
Actual Causation
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)
Proximate Causation
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.
Intervening Causes (Proximate Causation)
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)
Eggshell Victims
The defendant will be considered a proximate cause even if the victim’s preexisting weakness contributed to the bad result
Concurrence
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
