Preliminary Information Flashcards
Where may a crime be prosecuted?
A crime may be prosecuted in any state where: an act that was part of the crime took place; OR the result took place.
What is the burden of proof for the elements of a crime? What is the burden of proof for defenses in New York?
In a criminal case, the prosecution must prove each element of the crime beyond a reasonable doubt.
In New York, defenses are divided into two types: **Defenses - **Prosecution must disprove beyond a reasonable doubt AND **Affirmative Defenses - **The defendant must prove by a preponderance of the evidence.
What is the difference between a felony and a misdemeanor?
Felony: A crime that may be punished by death or imprisonment for more than 1 year.
Misdemeanor: A crime punishable by a fine and/or imprisonment for no more than one year.
What are the essential elements of a crime?
A crime must have both the act, the state of mind/intent, and causation (both actual and proximate).
What form can the act requirement of a crime take?
Culpable acts can be either “commissions” (physical acts) or “omissions” (the failure to act).
Physical Acts
All bodily movements are physical acts that can be the basis of criminal liability, provided that they are voluntary.
Involuntary movements that are not considered criminal “acts”:
One that is not the product of the actor’s volition (e.g. being pushed);
Sleepwalking or otherwise unconscious conduct;
A reflex or convulsion
Omissions: A *failure *to act can also be the basis for criminal liability, provided all three of the following requirements are satisfied.
1) There is a legal duty to act, which can be created in five different ways:
by statute;
by contract;
by the status relationship between the defendant and the victim;
parent/child
spouse/spouse
by the voluntary assumption of care
by creation of the peril
2) There needs to be knowledge of the facts giving rise to the duty;
3) There needs to be the ability to help.
What are the common law mental states for any given crime?
**Specific Intent: **when the crime requires not just the desire to do the act, but also the desire to achieve a specific result.
Malice: when a defendants acts intentionally or with reckless disregard of an obvious or known risk.
General Intent: the defendant need only be generally aware of the factors constituting the crime; he need not intend a specific result.
Strict Liability: the crime requires simply doing the act; no mental state is needed.
What are the specific intent crimes?
Assault
1st degree murder
Larceny
Embezzelment
False Pretenses
Robbery
Burglary
Forgery
Solicitation
Conspiracy
Attempt
What are the malice crimes?
Murder
Arson
What are the general intent crimes?
Battery
Rape
False Imprisonment
Kidnapping
What crimes are strict liability?
Two types of strict liability crimes:
Public Welfare Offenses: Regulatory offenses that implicate public health or safety and typically carry small penalties (e.g. transferring *unregistered *firearms, selling *contaminated *food, shipping adulterated drugs in interstate commercer);
Statutory Rape: having sex with someone who is under the age of consent.
What are the mental states necessary in New York?
Intent: the defendant acts intentionally when it is his conscious desire to achieve a particular result. In other words, this is what the defendant wants to do.
Knowledge: the defendant acts knowingly when he is aware of what he is doing. With respect to result, the defendant acts knowingly when he is aware that it is practically certain that his conduct will cause that result.
Recklessness: the defendant acts recklessly when he is aware of a substantial unjustifiable risk and consciously disregards that risk.
Negligence: the defendant acts negligently when he should have been aware of a substantial and unjustifiable risk.
Strict Liability: no mental state required (similar to common law).
What types of causation are required for a crime and what are the standards?
The prosecution needs to prove both:
Actual (or “But For”) Causation: A defendant is an actual cause (the “cause-in-fact”) if the bad result would not have happened but for the defendant’s conduct.
Exception: An “accelerating” cause is an actual cause.
Proximate (or “Legal”) Causation: A defendant is a proximate cause if the bad result is a natural and probable consequence of the defendant’s conduct.
Intervening Causes: the defendant *will not *be considered a proximate cause if an unforeseeable intervening event causes the bad result.
Eggshell Victims: the defendant will be considered a proximate cause even if the victim’s pre-existing weaknesses contributed to the bad result.
What is the concurrence principle and when is it applied?
The defendant must have the required mental state at the same time as he engaged in the culpable act.
Concurrence issues arise most frequently in two crimes: (a) larceny and (b) burglary.
For New York, how are degrees for crimes determined?
The following factors if added will add a degree or if absent will decrease the degree:
weapons
injury, which comes in two levels of seriousness:
physical injury - substantial pain
serious physical injury - serious or life threatening injury
quantity (money, drugs)
