Essential Elements of a Crime

Question 1

Elements of a Crime

Answer 1

A physical act (actus reus),
A mental act (mens rea), and
A concurrence of the act and mental state

Question 2

Physical Act

Answer 2

D must have either performed a voluntary physical act or failed to act under circumstances imposing a legal duty to act. An act is a bodily movement.

Question 3

Physical Act - Bodily Movement that does not Qualify

Answer 3

conduct that is not the product of the person’s own volition

a reflexive or convulsive act

an act performed while unconscious or asleep.

Question 4

Omission as an “act”

Answer 4

The failure to act gives rise to liability only if:

There is a legal duty to act

The D has knowledge of the facts giving rise to the duty to act; and

it is reasonably possible to perform the duty.

Question 5

Legal Duty to Act

Answer 5

Legal Duty to Act can arise form one of five circumstances:

1. by statute
2. by contract
3. the relationship between the parties
4. the voluntary assumption of care by the D for the victim
5. the D created the peril for the victim

Question 6

Possession as an Act

Answer 6

Criminal statutes that penalize the possession of contraband generally require only that the D have control of the item for a long enough period to have an opportunity to terminate the possession.

Question 7

Mental State (Mens Rea) - Specific Intent

Answer 7

A crime may require not only the doing of an act, but also the doing of it with a specific intent or objective.

The manner in which the crime was committed may provide circumstantial evidence of intent.

The importance of specific Intent crimes is that they will qualify for additional defenses not available for other types of crimes.

Question 8

Specific Intent Crimes

Answer 8

Solicitiation
conspiracy
attempt
first degree premeditated murder
assault
larceny
embezzlement
false pretenses
Robbery
burglary
forgery

Question 9

Specific Intent Crimes Mnemonic

Answer 9

Students Can Always Fake A Laugh Even For Ridiculous Bar Facts

Question 10

Intent for Malice Crimes

Answer 10

the inetent necessary for malice crimes (CL murder and arson) requires a reckless disregard of an obvious or high risk that the particular harmful result will occur.

Defenses to Specific Intent Crimes do not apply to malice crimes

Question 11

General Intent

Answer 11

General intent means D has an awareness of all factors constituting the crime; I.e., D must be aware that they are acting in teh proscribed way and that any required attendant circumstances exist.

It is sufficient that D is aware of a high likelihood that they will occur.

Question 12

Strict Liability Offenses

Answer 12

Does not require awareness of all of the factors constituting the crime.

D can be found guilty from teh mere fact that they committed the act.

Question 13

General Intent Crimes

Answer 13

Battery
Rape
Kidnapping
False Imprisonment

Question 14

Malice Crimes

Answer 14

CL Murder
Arson

Question 15

Strict Liability Crimes

Answer 15

Statutory Rape
Selling Liquor to Minors
Bigamy (some jxs)

Question 16

MPC - Purposely, Knowingly, or Recklessly

Answer 16

MPC eliminates the CL distinctions between general and specific intent and adopts the P, K, or R categories of intent.

Question 17

Purposely - MPC

Answer 17

a person acts purposely when their conscious object is to engage in certain conduct or cause a certain result.

Question 18

Knowingly - MPC

Answer 18

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

Question 19

Recklessly - MPC

Answer 19

a person acts recklessly when they consciously disregard a substantial and unjustifiable risk.

Question 20

Negligence - MPC

Answer 20

A person acts negligently when they fail to be aware of a substantial and unjustifiable risk - this is an objective standard.

Question 21

Transferred Intent

Answer 21

D can be liable under the doctrine of transferred intent when they intend the harm that is actually caused, but to a different victim or object.

Doctrine of Transferred Intent applies to homicide, battery, and arson.

Question 22

Concurrence of Mental Fault with Physical Act

Answer 22

D 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.C

Question 23

Causation

Answer 23

Some crimes (such as homicide) require result and causation.

When a crime is defined to require not merely conduct but also a specified result (such as death), the D’s conduct must be both the cause-in-fact and the proximate cause of the specified result.