General Principles Flashcards
A felony is
a crime punishable by death or by imprisonment for more than one year. At common law, burglary, arson, robbery, rape, larceny, murder, manslaughter, and mayhem were considered felonies.
A misdemeanor is
a crime punishable by imprisonment for less than one year or by a fine only. At common law, crimes not considered felonies were deemed misdemeanors.
Malum prohibitum is
an act that is wrong only because it violates a statute (e.g., speeding or failing to register a firearm).
Malum in se
is an act that is inherently wrong or “evil”—an act that involves a general criminal intent or moral turpitude (e.g., murder, theft, and battery).
Elements of Crimes
Mens Rea
Actus Reus
Causation
Concurrence
Actus Reus may be met by:
(a) a voluntary act that causes an unlawful result;
(b) an omission to act where the defendant is under a legal duty to act; or
(c) vicarious liability where the defendant is responsible for the acts of another party.
Criminal negligence usually requires
that the defendant’s conduct create a high degree of risk of death or serious injury beyond the tort standard of ordinary negligence. The degree of that risk, however, has no precise, objective measure. It is more than mere ordinary negligence, but less than wanton and willful misconduct.
Specific intent crimes include
first-degree murder;
theft crimes such as larceny, robbery, extortion, embezzlement, false
pretenses, and receiving stolen property;
burglary (but not arson, which is a “malice” crime);
inchoate crimes (solicitation, conspiracy, and attempt); and
assault.
A general intent crime merely requires
Commission of an unlawful act (e.g., nonconsensual intercourse) without a specific mens rea.
A general bad state of mind will suffice where such a criminal act is committed voluntarily and purposely.
General intent crimes include
rape, battery, kidnapping, false imprisonment, involuntary manslaughter, and depraved-heart murder.
The requisite intent for malice is met when
a defendant acts intentionally or with reckless disregard of an obvious or known risk that the particular harmful result will occur.
Malice crimes are common law murder and arson.
Under strict liability, culpability is imposed on a defendant
merely for
doing the act that is prohibited by statute.
In other words, no particular mental state is required for at least some element of a strict liability crime.
The transferred intent doctrine
preserves liability where a defendant intends criminal conduct against one party but instead harms another party, so that his actions bring about an unintended, yet still criminal, result.
Concurrence requires:
that the defendant’s criminal intent occur at the time he commits the criminal act, but the mental state should also actuate, or put into action, the act or omission.
To find proximate cause,
the resultant harm must be within the risk created by the defendant’s conduct in crimes involving negligence or recklessness, or sufficiently similar to that intended in crimes requiring intent, so as not to hold the defendant liable for extraordinary results (such as acts of nature or grossly negligent or intentional bad acts of third parties, including intentional medical mistreatment).
