General Principles Flashcards
(27 cards)
As to the reckless definition of “consciously disregard[ed] a substantial and unjustified risk”, what is required for “substantial”?
a “substantial” risk is not one that is necessarily greater than 50-50, just one that is of non- trivial probability
Almost all crimes require proof of the following four core elements
Physical act, a.k.a. Actus reus
Mental state mens rea
Causation.
Concurrent
Physical act (actus reus)
The defendant must have either performed a voluntary physical act or failed to act under circumstances, imposing a legal duty to act
A failure to act rise to liability only if:
There is a legal duty to act.
The defendant has knowledge of the fact giving rise to the duty to act.
AND
it is reasonably possible to perform the duty
Mental state mens rea
The defendant must have committed the offense with a culpable state of mind. However, a defendant did not know that their conduct is illegal to be guilty of a crime.
Causation
There must be a causal connection between the defendants physical act or failure to act and the harmful result
Concurrence
The requisite mental state must be present at the same time the physical act constituting the crime occurs
The common law requires that one of the following four different mental states, be proven, depending on the crime committed
Specific content.
Malice.
General intent
Strict Liability
Specific intent
Specific intent requires that the crime be committed with a specific intent or objective. The existence of specific intent cannot be conclusively imputed from the mirror doing of an act, but the manner in which the crime was committed may provide evidence of intent.
Solicitation intent
Specific intent to have the person solicited commit the crime
Attempt intent
Specific intent to complete the crime
Conspiracy, intent
Specific intent to have the crime completed
First-degree murder, intent
Specific premeditated intent to kill
Assault intent
specific (intent to commit a battery)
Larceny and Robbery intent
specific (intent to permanently deprive another of his interest in the property taken)
Burglary intent
specific (intent to commit a felony in the dwelling)
Forgery
specific (intent to defraud)
False Pretenses intent
specific (intent to defraud)
Embezzlement intent
specific (intent to defraud)
Malice
The intent necessary for malice crimes require a reckless disregard of an obvious or high risk that the particular harmful result will occur.
Defenses to specific intent crimes (e.g., voluntary intoxication) do NOT apply to malice crimes. Malice crimes include:
Common Law Murder; AND
Arson
General Intent.
General intent is a “catch-all” category of intent.
It requires that the defendant intend to commit an act that is prohibited by law (whether the defendant intended the act’s result is irrelevant). General intent crimes include:
Battery;
Rape;
Manslaughter;
Kidnapping; AND
False Imprisonment
Strict Liability.
Strict liability only requires that the defendant voluntarily commit the actus reus (regardless of the defendant’s intent). Defenses that negate state of mind (e.g., mistake of fact) are NOT available. Strict liability offenses include:
Statutory Rape;
Selling Liquor to Minors; AND
Bigamy (some jurisdictions)
The Model Penal Code eliminates the common law distinctions between general and specific intent and adopts the following four categories of intent:
purposely
knowingly/willfully
recklessly
negligently
MPC purposely
A defendant acts “purposely” when his conscious objective is to
engage in the conduct or to cause a certain result.
MPC knowingly/willfully
A defendant acts “knowingly or willingly” when the defendant is aware that his conduct is of the nature required by the crime or that circumstances required by the crime exist.
