Legal Terms Chapter 10 - Crimes, Accomplices, and Defenses

Question 2

Crime

Answer 2

The voluntary commission or voluntary omission of an act punishable by a fine, imprisonment, or both.

Question 3

Actus reus

Answer 3

A voluntary act.

Question 4

Mens rea

Answer 4

Criminal intent.

Question 5

Ex post facto

Answer 5

After the fact.

Question 6

Mala in se

Answer 6

Wrong in and of itself; requires unlawful intent on the part of the perpetrator.

Question 7

Mala prohibita

Answer 7

Wrong because it is prohibited; does not require unlawful intent on the part of the perpetrator.

Question 8

Strict liability crime

Answer 8

A crime that has not criminal intent element; it was created to protect the public from acts thought to be so dangerous as to be categorized as crimes.

Question 9

High treason

Answer 9

In common law, acts against the king.

Question 10

Petit treason

Answer 10

In common law, acts against one’s master or lord.

Question 11

Treason

Answer 11

In the U.S. Constitution, it is defined as levying was against the United States or giving aid and comfort to the nation’s enemies.

Question 12

Felony

Answer 12

A major crime.

Question 13

Misdemeanor

Answer 13

Less serious than a felony.

Question 14

Incarceration

Answer 14

Confinement.

Question 15

Deadly weapon

Answer 15

An item that is, from the way that it is used, capable of causing death or serious bodily injury.

Question 16

Petty larceny

Answer 16

Theft of personal property that is a misdemeanor rather than a felony.

Question 17

Conspiracy

Answer 17

Two or more people agree to commit an unlawful act, including when crime or unlawful act is never carried out.

Question 18

Accomplice

Answer 18

Anyone who takes part with another in the commission of a crime.

Question 19

Principal in the first degree

Answer 19

One who actually commits a felony, either by his or her own hand or through an innocent agent.

Question 20

Principal in the second degree

Answer 20

One who did not commit the crime, but was present, aiding and abetting another in the commission of a felony.

Question 21

Aiding and abetting

Answer 21

Participating in a crime by giving assistance or encouragement.

Question 22

Constructively present

Answer 22

Made so by legal interpretation.

Question 23

Accessory before the fact

Answer 23

One who procures, counsels, or commands another to commit a felony, but who is not present when the felony is committed.

Question 24

Pinkerton doctrine

Answer 24

An accessory before the fact will be responsible for the natural and probable consequences that ensue from the crime that he or she induced, but not for a crime of a substantially different nature.

Question 25

Model penal code

Answer 25

As opposed to Pinkerton doctrine, emphasizes individual liability rather than collective with respect to conspiracy theory. It makes an accessory liable only for those acts that were contemplated by the perpetrator, as opposed to those acts which were foreseeable from the plan.

Question 26

Foreseeable

Answer 26

Known in advance, anticipated, or likely to occur.

Question 27

Malum, mala

Answer 27

Bad, evil, or wrongful.

Question 28

Accessory after the fact

Answer 28

One who receives, relieves, comforts, or assists another with knowledge the the other person has committed a felony.

Question 29

Alibi

Answer 29

A defense that places the defendant in a different place than the crime scene so that it would have been impossible for him or her to commit the crime.

Question 30

Entrapment

Answer 30

A defense that may be used when a law enforcement induces a person to commit a crime that the person would not have otherwise committed; especially with lack of criminal history.

Question 31

Insanity

Answer 31

A wide-ranging defense and one which is tied to the specific criminal insanity standard of the defendant’s jurisdiction; didn’t know the difference between right and wrong.

Question 32

Self-defense

Answer 32

A valid excuse for the use of force in resisting attack, especially for killing an assailant; no more force than necessary to stop attack.

Question 33

Intoxication

Answer 33

A state in which a person is under the influence of drugs or alcohol; mostly involuntary and almost never voluntary defense.

Question 34

Plain view doctrine

Answer 34

The priniciple that asserts that a search warrant is not needed for a police officer to seize items that are in plain view of where the police officer is lawfully situated.

Question 35

Hot pursuit doctrine

Answer 35

The principle that a search warrant is not needed when police pursue a fleeing suspect into a private area.

Question 36

Stop and frisk rule

Answer 36

A rule that allows police officers who believe that a person is acting suspiciously and could be armed to stop and frisk that person for weapons without a search warrant.

Question 37

Illegal profiling

Answer 37

A law enforcement action, such as a detention or arrest, based solely on race, religion, national origin, ethnicity, gender, or sexual orientation.

Question 38

Exclusionary rule

Answer 38

A court-created doctrine holding that evidence obtained by an unconstitutional search or seizure cannot be used at the trial of the defendant.

Question 39

Fruit of the poisonous tree doctrine

Answer 39

A court-created rule holding that evidence generated or derived from an illegal search or seizure cannot be used at the trial of the defendant; extension from exclusionary rule.

Question 40

Good faith exception to exclusionary rule

Answer 40

Evidence discovered by officers acting in good faith but under the mistaken belief that a search was valid and that can be used at the trial of the defendant; separate the difference between police misconduct and officers acting under the impression of legality which is later found to be flawed.

Question 41

Cyberlaw

Answer 41

The area of law that involves computers and their related problems.

Question 42

Cybercrime

Answer 42

Criminal activity associated with a computer.

Question 43

Computer fraud

Answer 43

Use of a computer to obtain money, property, or services by false pretenses.

Question 44

Stalking

Answer 44

The willful and malicious repeated following, harassing, and threatening another person, intended to place the person in fear of death or serious bodily injury.

Question 45

Drug trafficking

Answer 45

The unauthorized manufacture and distribution of any controlled substance, or the possession of such a substance, with the intention to manufacture or distribute it illegally.

Question 46

Computer fraud and abuse act

Answer 46

The first federal legislation to respond to the increase of computer crime, amended seven times since its passage in 1986.

Question 47

Suicide

Answer 47

The deliberate taking of one’s own life.