Key Terms 4 Flashcards
What is Actus Reus?
A guilty (prohibited) act
What is Administrative Law?
The body of law created by administrative agencies in order to carry out their duties and responsibilities
What is an Attempt in legal terms?
The act of taking substantial steps toward committing a crime while having the ability and the intent to commit the crime, even if the crime never takes place
What are Attendant Circumstances?
The facts surrounding a criminal event that must be proved to convict the defendant of the underlying crime
What is a Ballot Initiative?
A procedure in which the citizens of a state, by collecting enough signatures, can force a public vote on a proposed change to state law
What is the Bill of Rights?
The first ten amendments to the U.S. Constitution
What is Case Law?
The rules of law announced in court decisions
What is Common Law?
The body of law developed from custom or judicial decisions in English and U.S. courts and not attributable to a legislature
What is a Competency Hearing?
A court proceeding to determine whether the defendant is mentally well enough to understand the charges filed against him or her and cooperate with a lawyer in presenting a defense
What is Conspiracy?
A plot by two or more people to carry out an illegal or harmful act
What is Constitutional Law?
Law based on the U.S. Constitution and the constitutions of various states
What is Corpus Delicti?
The body of circumstances that must exist for a criminal act to have occurred
What is the Due Process Clause?
The provisions of the Fifth and Fourteenth Amendments to the Constitution that guarantee that no person shall be deprived of life, liberty, or property without due process of law
What is Duress?
Unlawful pressure brought to bear on a person, causing the person to perform an act that he or she would not otherwise perform
What is Duty to Retreat?
The requirement that a person claiming self-defense prove that she or he first took reasonable steps to avoid the conflict that resulted in the use of deadly force
What is Entrapment?
A defense in which the defendant claims that he or she was induced by a public official - usually an undercover agent or police officer - to commit a crime that he or she would otherwise not have committed
What is Felony-Murder?
An unlawful homicide that occurs during the attempted commission of a felony
What is Hate Crime Law?
A statute that provides for greater sanctions against those who commit crimes motivated by bias against an individual or a group based on race, ethnicity, religion, gender, sexual orientation, disability, or age
What are Inchoate Offenses?
Conduct deemed criminal without actual harm being done, provided that the harm that would have occurred is one the law tries to prevent
What is Infancy in legal terms?
A condition that, under early American law, excused young wrongdoers of criminal behavior because presumably they could not understand the consequences of their actions
What is Insanity?
A defense for criminal liability that asserts a lack of criminal responsibility due to mental instability
What is Intoxication?
A defense for criminal liability in which the defendant claims that the taking of intoxicants rendered him or her unable to form the requisite intent to commit a criminal act
What is Involuntary Manslaughter?
A homicide in which the offender had no intent to kill her or his victim
What is the Irresistible-Impulse Test?
A test for the insanity defense under which a defendant who knew his or her action was wrong may still be found insane if he or she was unable, as a result of mental deficiency, to control the urge to complete the act
What is Mens Rea?
Mental state, or intent
What is the M’Naughten Rule?
A common law test of criminal responsibility, derived from M’Naughten’s case in 1843, that relies on the defendant’s inability to distinguish right from wrong
What is the Model Penal Code?
A statutory text created by the American Law Institute that sets forth general principles of criminal responsibility and defines specific offenses
What is Necessity in legal terms?
A defense against criminal liability in which the defendant asserts that circumstances required her or him to commit an illegal act
What is Negligence?
A failure to exercise the standard of care that a reasonable person would exercise in similar circumstances
What is Precedent?
A court decision that furnishes an example or authority for deciding subsequent cases involving similar facts
What is Procedural Criminal Law?
Rules that define the manner in which the rights and duties of individuals may be enforced
What is Procedural Due Process?
A provision in the Constitution that states that the law must be carried out in a fair and orderly manner
What is Recklessness?
The state of being aware that a risk does or will exist and nevertheless acting in a way that consciously disregards this risk
What is the Rule of Law?
The principle that the rules of a legal system apply equally to all persons, institutions, and entities - public or private - that make up a society
What is Self-Defense?
The legally recognized privilege to protect one’s self or property from injury by another
What is Stare Decisis?
A legal doctrine under which judges are obligated to follow the precedents established under prior decisions
What is Statutory Law?
The body of law enacted by legislative bodies
What is Statutory Rape?
A strict liability crime in which an adult engages in a sexual act with a minor
What are Strict Liability Crimes?
Certain crimes, such as traffic violations, in which the defendant is guilty regardless of her or his state of mind at the time of the act
What is the Substantial-Capacity Test (ALI/MPC Test)?
A test for the insanity defense that states that a person is not responsible for criminal behavior when he or she “lacks substantial capacity”
What is Substantive Criminal Law?
Law that defines the rights and duties of individuals with respect to one another
What is Substantive Due Process?
The constitutional requirement that laws used in accusing and convicting persons of crime must be fair
What is the Supremacy Clause?
A clause in the U.S. Constitution establishing that a federal law is the “supreme law of the land” and shall prevail when in conflict with state constitutions or statutes
What is Voluntary Manslaughter?
A homicide in which the intent to kill was present in the mind of the offender, but malice was lacking
