General Principles Flashcards
What are the general elements of crimes?
- Actus reus
- Mens rea
- Concurrence
- Causation
Each element must be proven beyond a reasonable doubt.
What is actus reus?
This is the guilty hand. It can be established by:
- A voluntary, conscious act that causes an unlawful result (act + volition = legal act) - Reflex actions/ convulsive/unconscious and bad thoughts are insufficient. However, habitual acts are conscious.
- An omission to act where the D is under a legal duty to act (omission + legal duty = legal act) - D must be able/capable of actually performing the duty. A legal duty can be found in statutory duties, contractual duties, duties b/c of relationship, once voluntary undertaking is abandoned, and failing to help after creating the risk; or
- vicarious liability where the D is responsible for the acts of another party.
What is mens rea?
This is the guilty mind. Most crimes require a specific culpable state of mind that actuated (set in motion) the criminal act or omission.
What are the categories of of mens rea?
- Intentionally - D desires that his acts cause the consequences or knows that his acts are substantially certain to produce the consequences.
- Knowingly - He knows the nature and/or result of his conduct.
- Purposely - The D acts with the conscious objective to engage in such conduct or to cause such a result.
- Willfully - Synonym for intent. The D acts purposely and knowingly with moral turpitude.
- Recklessly - The D consciously disregards a substantial and unjustifiable risk.
- Criminal Negligence - The D’s conduct creates a high degree of risk of death or serious injury beyond ordinary negligence.
What types of intent are there in mens rea?
- Specific intent - The D either: a. wants, hopes, or wishes that his conduct bring about a particular result, or b. he expects that his purposeful act have a particular result.
- General intent - The D committed a criminal act (not result) voluntarily and purposely.
What is malice?
This is the essential mens rea for murder under common law.
Express malice is established by proving D intended to kill another human being. Intent to kill is established by:
- D acted with the purpose to kill;
- D acted with the knowledge that her conduct would kill.
- D acted with intent to inflict grievous bodily harm on the victim, although no intent to kill.
Implied malice is established by proving that the D caused a death as the result of extreme reckless or criminally negligent conduct that manifested a wanton disregard for the value of human life.
What is strict liability?
Culpability is imposed on a D merely for doing the act that is prohibited by statute. No mental state is required.
What is transferred intent?
Where a D intends criminal conduct against one party, but instead harms another party, so that his actions bring about an unintended, yet still criminal, result.
What is concurrence in time?
It is not only necessary that the D’s criminal intent occur at the time he commits the criminal act, but the mental state should also actuate, or put into motion, the act or omission.
What is occurrence of a result?
Some crimes require that a specific result to be complete.
What is causation?
D’s conduct must be both the actual and proximate cause of the criminal result.
Actual Cause:
But for test - But for the D’s actions, the result would not have occurred.
Substantial factor test - when there are multiple causes or parties, a D is responsible if the D’s act was a substantial factor in causing the result.
Accelerating factor - D is the actual cause if he accelerated an inevitable result.
Proximate Cause:
D’s cause in fact must have been within the objectively foreseeable range of possibility. A dependent/responsive intervening cause will not supersede D’s actions unless they are a totally abnormal response. An independent/coincidental intervention will supersede the D’s actions except when it was foreseeable.
D’s take their victims and their special sensitivities as they find them.
