Essential Elements of a Crime

Question 1

Common Law Merger

Answer 1

A person engaged in conduct constituting both a felony and a misdemeanor, they could be convicted only of the felony.

The misdemeanor merged into the felony.

Question 2

Modern Law Merger

Answer 2

Generally, there is no merger of crimes in American law.

A person who solicits another to commit a crime may not be convicted of both the solicitation and the completed crime (if the person solicited does complete it).

A person who completes a crime after attempting it may not be convicted of both the attempt and the completed crime.

Conspiracy does not merge with the completed offense

Question 3

MPC Merger

Answer 3

A defendant may not be convicted of more than one inchoate crime (that is, attempt, conspiracy, or solicitation) when their conduct was designed to culminate in the commission of the same offense.

Question 4

Elements of a Crime

Answer 4

A physical act (actus reus)

A mental state (mens rea), and

A concurrence of the act and mental state

A crime may also require proof of a result and causation (meaning the act caused the harmful result).

Question 5

Physical Act

Answer 5

A defendant 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 6

The failure to act gives rise to liability only if:

Answer 6

There is a legal duty to act

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

It is reasonably possible to perform the duty

Question 7

A legal duty to act can arise by:

Answer 7

1. Statute
2. Contract
3. Relationship between the parties
4. Voluntary assumption of care
5. Defendant created the peril for the victim

Question 8

Possession as an “Act”

Answer 8

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

Possession does not need to be exclusive to one person, and possession also may be “constructive,” (Not actual) Contraband is in an area within the defendant’s “dominion and control”

Question 9

State of Mind Requirement (Possession as an “Act”)

Answer 9

Defendant must be aware of their possession of the contraband, but they need not be aware of its illegality.

Many statutes add a state of mind element (ex: “Knowingly”)

Under such statutes, the defendant ordinarily must know the identity or nature of the item possessed. On the other hand, a defendant may not consciously avoid learning the true nature of the item possessed; (knowledge may be inferred)

Question 10

Specific Intent

Answer 10

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

The existence of a specific intent cannot be conclusively imputed from the mere doing of the act, but the manner in which the crime was committed may provide circumstantial evidence of intent.

Specific intent crimes will qualify for additional defenses not available for other types of crimes.

Question 11

Name All Specific Intent Crimes + (Mnemonic)

Answer 11

Solicitation: Intent to have the person solicited commit the crime

• Conspiracy: Intent to have the crime completed
• Attempt: Intent to complete the crime
• First degree premeditated murder: Premeditated intent to kill
• Assault: Intent to commit a battery
• Larceny: Intent to permanently deprive the other of their interest in the property taken
• Embezzlement: Intent to defraud
• False pretenses: Intent to defraud
• Robbery: Intent to permanently deprive the other of their interest in the property taken
• Burglary: Intent to commit a felony in the dwelling
• Forgery: Intent to defraud

Mnemonic: Students Can Always Fake A Laugh, Even For Ridiculous Bar Facts.

Question 12

Malice Crimes

Answer 12

Common Law Murder & Arson

Question 13

The intent necessary for malice crimes:

Answer 13

Requires a reckless disregard of an obvious or high risk that the particular harmful result will occur.

Defenses to specific intent crimes (such as voluntary intoxication) do not apply to malice crimes.

Question 14

General Intent

Answer 14

Catch-All Category

General intent means the defendant has an awareness of all factors constituting the crime

The defendant does not have to be certain that all the circumstances exist; it is sufficient that they are aware of a high likelihood that they will occur.

Question 15

Inference of Intent From Act (General Intent)

Answer 15

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

Question 16

Strict Liability Offenses

Answer 16

One that does not require awareness of all of the factors constituting the crime; that is, the defendant can be found guilty from the mere fact that they committed the act.

Defenses that negate state of mind, such as mistake of fact, are not available.

Question 17

MPC Analysis of Fault

Answer 17

M.P.C. eliminates the common law distinctions between general and specific intent

Question 18

Purposely

Answer 18

Subjective Standard

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

Question 19

Knowingly

Answer 19

Subjective Standard

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.

Also, the person is deemed to be aware of these circumstances when they are aware of a high probability that they exist and deliberately avoid learning the truth. The person acts knowingly with respect to the result of their conduct when they know that their conduct will necessarily or very likely cause a particular result.

Question 20

Recklessly

Answer 20

Subjective & Objective Standard

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

Recklessness involves both objective (“unjustifiable risk”) and subjective (“awareness”) elements.

Question 21

Negligence (MPC)

Answer 21

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

An objective standard is used. However, it is not just the reasonable person standard that is used in torts. The defendant must have taken a very unreasonable risk.

Question 22

Vicarious Liability Offenses

Answer 22

A vicarious liability offense is one in which a person without personal fault may nevertheless be held liable for the criminal conduct of another (usually an employee).

Question 23

Enterprise Liability—Liability of Corporations and Associations

Answer 23

At common law, a corporation does not have capacity to commit crimes.

Under modern statutes, corporations may be held liable for an act performed by: (1) an agent of the corporation acting within the scope of their office or employment; or (2) a corporate agent high enough in hierarchy to presume their acts reflect corporate policy.

Question 24

Transferred Intent

Answer 24

The defendant 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. Defenses and mitigating circumstances may also usually be transferred. The doctrine of transferred intent applies to homicide, battery, and arson. It does not apply to attempt.

A person found guilty of a crime on the basis of transferred intent is usually guilty of two crimes: the completed crime against the actual victim and attempt against the intended victim.

Question 25

CONCURRENCE OF MENTAL FAULT WITH PHYSICAL ACT

Answer 25

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.

Question 26

When a crime is defined to require not merely conduct but also a specified result:

Answer 26

The defendant’s conduct must be both the cause-in-fact and the proximate cause of the specified result.