Intro to Criminal Law Flashcards
Moral
Morals are those things between my creator and me or conscience that you feel is right or wrong
Ethics
Ethics are those things deemed appropriate or not by a profession or social class that you belong to. Ethics usually have some sort of qualifier
Manners
Manners are those social rules that everybody follows in order to maintain civil discourse
- You can disagree with somebody about an issue, but as long as you both have manners the conversation does not have to lead to a fistfight
Law
The law is the minimal set of rules that are required in society so that we do not hurt one another. Its different from manners because while manners are concerned with maximizing conflict resolution and civil progress, the law is simple concerned with protecting us from each other
Crime
In ordinary language, the term crime denotes an unlawful act punishable by the state
What are the conditions of a criminal offence?
Actus Reus: Latin for a “guilty act”. For example, the crime of theft requires physically taking something (the actus reus) coupled with the intent to permanently deprive the owner of the object
Mens Rea: Criminal intent. The state of mind indicating culpability which is required by statute as an element of a crime
Criminal State of Mind: where an accused person has planned and committed the crime
What is criminal intention?
It’s defined as “the decision to bring about a prohibited consequence”
- Anyone who plans an action may be aware of many probable and possible consequence
- All of these consequences could be prevented through either the ceasing of a given activity or of taking action rather than refraining from action
What is criminal negligence?
It is an offence that arises primarily in situations involving the death of an innocent party as a result of the operation of a motor vehicle by a person who is under the influence of drugs and narcotics or alcohol
What is motive?
It is used to explain why a person acted or refused to act in a certain way. If a person accused of murder was the beneficiary of a life insurance policy of the deceased, the prosecution might argue that greed was the motive for the killing
What is an attempt?
An attempt to commit a crime is an offence when an accused make a substantial but unsuccessful effort to commit a crime
Generally, attempts are punishable by imprisonment, with sentence lengths that vary in time, depending on the severity of the offence attempted
What is a conspiracy?
It is a crime separate from the criminal act for which it is developed. For example, one who conspires with another to commit the burglary and in fact commits the burglary can be charged with both conspiracy to commit burglary and burglary
