Justification and Excuse

Question 1

Justification [CL]

Answer 1

(1) Recognizes difficult choices to be made
(a) Necessity
(b) Proportionality
(c) Reasonable Belief
Ex: Self-defense

Question 2

Excuse [CL]

Answer 2

Society excuses behavior due to a disability of D

Ex: Duress, Insanity, etc.

Question 3

Justification and Excuse [MPC]

Answer 3

Abandons distinctions btw justification and excuse

(1) Justified = “right”
(2) Excused = “undesirable”

Question 4

Defensive Force [CL]

Answer 4

(1) Reasonable fear of death/serious bodily harm
(2) Imminent/unlawful threat
(3) Invited proportional response
(4) Initial Aggressor Rule
(5) Maybe duty to retreat

Question 5

Defensive Force [MPC § 3.04]

Answer 5

(1) Honest belief force is necessary
(2) Relaxed immediacy requirement (no longer has to be imminent)
(3) A proportional response is broader (includes kidnapping and rape)
(4) Initial Aggressor Rule
(5) Duty to Retreat [unless at home, work, or public officer acting in official capacities]

Question 6

Deadly Force [CL]

Answer 6

When a person reasonably believes that he is in imminent danger and that deadly force is necessary to defend himself, the resulting homicide is justifiable – even if the appearances of danger were false or extent of the danger was mistaken

Question 7

Deadly Force [MPC § 3.09]

Answer 7

The mistaken belief that deadly force is necessary does not justify a homicide

Question 8

Justification: Necessity

Answer 8

(1) Involves a choice by D btw the lesser of two evils
[Harm chosen is less than the harm avoided]
(2) Made in the face of some natural, non-human, force or condition
(3) The danger must be imminent
(4) The actor must have clean hands

Question 9

Exceptions to Necessity

Answer 9

(1) Necessity does not justify homicide unless the killing was committed in self-defense

Question 10

Justification: Necessity Elements

Answer 10

Conduct which would otherwise be an offense is justifiable by reason of necessity if

(1) D was w/o blame in developing the situation, and
(2) D reasonably believed such conduct was necessary to avoid a public or private injury greater than the injury which might result from his own conduct

Question 11

Excuse: Duress

Answer 11

(1) Actor’s will is overborne by threats
(2) Always responds to a human threat rather than natural danger
(3) Coercer must threaten death or great bodily harm to D or D’s immediate family
(4) Threat of harm must be imminent
(5) D must have clean hands

Question 12

Excuse: Duress Elements

Answer 12

The defense of compulsion or threat only applies when

(1) the danger is immediate and continuous,
(2) the defendant had no opportunity to escape, and
(3) the defendant did not place himself in peril through his own intentional or reckless conduct

Question 13

Exceptions to Duress

Answer 13

Duress is not an excuse for an intentional homicide

Question 14

Excuse: Entrapment [Majority View]

Answer 14

(1) D induced by law enforcement, and
(2) D did not have intent or predisposition to commit the crime until induced
(3) Subjective Standard (what was D’s intent?)

Question 15

Excuse: Entrapment [Minority View]

Answer 15

(1) Gov’t tactics were of such a nature that they would have induced an innocent person to commit a crime
(2) Objective Standard (what were the gov’t’s tactics?)

Question 16

Excuse: Mental Illness [Terminology]

Answer 16

(1) Mental Illness = medical term
(2) Insanity = legal term [Not Guilty by Reason of Insanity]
(3) All people who are insane have a mental illness, but all people who have a mental illness are not insane

Question 17

Competency to Stand Trial

Answer 17

Defendant is incompetent if…

(1) Lacks the capacity to consult with an attorney to a reasonable degree of rational understanding, but
(2) Able to make critical decisions

Question 18

Mental Illness: The M’Naughten Rule [CL] [Majority]

Answer 18

If at the time of the act defendant was laboring under such a defect of reason arising from a mental disease or defect that:

(1) D did not know the nature and quality of the act that D was doing, or
(2) If D did know, D did not know that what he was doing was wrong

[NGRI]

Question 19

Mental Illness: MPC § 4.01 Test [Minority]

Answer 19

Two Prongs:

(1) Cognition
(2) Volition

D is not responsible, if at the time,

(1) The conduct was a result of a mental disease/defect, and
(2) D lacked the substantial capacity either
(a) To appreciate the wrongfulness of his conduct, or
(b) To conform his conduct to the requirements of the law

Excludes sociopaths and psychopaths

[GBMI]