Legal Terms Chapter 10 - Crimes, Accomplices, and Defenses Flashcards
Crime
The voluntary commission or voluntary omission of an act punishable by a fine, imprisonment, or both.
Actus reus
A voluntary act.
Mens rea
Criminal intent.
Ex post facto
After the fact.
Mala in se
Wrong in and of itself; requires unlawful intent on the part of the perpetrator.
Mala prohibita
Wrong because it is prohibited; does not require unlawful intent on the part of the perpetrator.
Strict liability crime
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.
High treason
In common law, acts against the king.
Petit treason
In common law, acts against one’s master or lord.
Treason
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.
Felony
A major crime.
Misdemeanor
Less serious than a felony.
Incarceration
Confinement.
Deadly weapon
An item that is, from the way that it is used, capable of causing death or serious bodily injury.
Petty larceny
Theft of personal property that is a misdemeanor rather than a felony.
Conspiracy
Two or more people agree to commit an unlawful act, including when crime or unlawful act is never carried out.
Accomplice
Anyone who takes part with another in the commission of a crime.
Principal in the first degree
One who actually commits a felony, either by his or her own hand or through an innocent agent.
Principal in the second degree
One who did not commit the crime, but was present, aiding and abetting another in the commission of a felony.
Aiding and abetting
Participating in a crime by giving assistance or encouragement.
Constructively present
Made so by legal interpretation.
Accessory before the fact
One who procures, counsels, or commands another to commit a felony, but who is not present when the felony is committed.
Pinkerton doctrine
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.
Model penal code
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.
Foreseeable
Known in advance, anticipated, or likely to occur.
Malum, mala
Bad, evil, or wrongful.
Accessory after the fact
One who receives, relieves, comforts, or assists another with knowledge the the other person has committed a felony.
Alibi
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.
Entrapment
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.
Insanity
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.
Self-defense
A valid excuse for the use of force in resisting attack, especially for killing an assailant; no more force than necessary to stop attack.
Intoxication
A state in which a person is under the influence of drugs or alcohol; mostly involuntary and almost never voluntary defense.
Plain view doctrine
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.
Hot pursuit doctrine
The principle that a search warrant is not needed when police pursue a fleeing suspect into a private area.
Stop and frisk rule
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.
Illegal profiling
A law enforcement action, such as a detention or arrest, based solely on race, religion, national origin, ethnicity, gender, or sexual orientation.
Exclusionary rule
A court-created doctrine holding that evidence obtained by an unconstitutional search or seizure cannot be used at the trial of the defendant.
Fruit of the poisonous tree doctrine
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.
Good faith exception to exclusionary rule
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.
Cyberlaw
The area of law that involves computers and their related problems.
Cybercrime
Criminal activity associated with a computer.
Computer fraud
Use of a computer to obtain money, property, or services by false pretenses.
Stalking
The willful and malicious repeated following, harassing, and threatening another person, intended to place the person in fear of death or serious bodily injury.
Drug trafficking
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.
Computer fraud and abuse act
The first federal legislation to respond to the increase of computer crime, amended seven times since its passage in 1986.
Suicide
The deliberate taking of one’s own life.
