Criminal Law (CJ 322) - Exam 1 (Ch. 1-4)

Categories of cases include?

crime, noncriminal wrong (tort), regulation, license, lawful

Define Crime

an action or omission that constitutes an offense that may be prosecuted by the state and is punishable by law.

Define noncriminal wrong

a legal wrong that justifies suing someone and getting money, usually for some personal injury

Define regulation

government intervention in a market that affects the production of a good

Define license

charges a price for it (ex: a driver's license fee for the privilege to drive)

Define lawful

let individual conscience and/or social disapproval condemn it, but create no legal consequences

social reality of U.S. criminal law

the dual nature of U.S. criminal law divided into two categories: a small number of serious, core offenses and a large number of lesser crimes, or "everything else

criminal law imagination

the contributions of law, history, philosophy, the social sciences, and sometimes biology to explain the moral desires we wish to impose on the world

felonies against persons

the core offenses of murder, manslaughter, rape, kidnapping, and robbery

felonies against property

the core offenses of felonious theft, robbery, arson, and burglary

hard punishment

a sentence of a year or more in prison

punishment imagination

crimes that fit within the criminal law imagination and that the law should punish by locking people up

police power

all federal, state, and local governments' executive, legislative, and judiciary's power, including uniformed police officers, to carry out and enforce the criminal law

torts

private wrongs for which you can sue the party who wronged you and recover money

compensatory damages

damages recovered by tort plaintiffs for their actual injuries

punitive damages

damages recovered by tort plaintiffs to punish the defendant for their "evil behavior

mala in se crimes

offenses that require some level of criminal intent

mala prohibita offenses

offenses that are crimes only because a specific statute or ordinance prohibits them

felonies

crimes punishable by death or confinement in the state's prison for one year to life without parole

misdemeanors

offenses punishable by fine and/or confinement in the local jail for up to one year

state criminal codes

criminal law created by elected representatives in state legislatures

municipal codes

criminal law created by city and town councils elected by city residents

U.S. Criminal Code

criminal law created by the U.S. Congress

administrative agencies

appointed participants in creating criminal law that assist the U.S. Congress

criminal court opinions

create criminal law by interpreting state and municipal criminal codes

criminal law enforcement agencies

create criminal law through informal discretionary law making to decide how the criminal law process works on a day-to-day basis

codified

written definitions of crimes and punishment enacted by legislatures and published

Model Penal Code (MPC)

proposed criminal code drafted by the American Law Institute and used to reform criminal codes

Criminal Liability

conduct that unjustifiably and inexcusably inflicts or threatens substantial harm to individual or public interests

elements of rape

Actus Reus (voluntary act) [1. sexual penetration by 2. force or threat of force] + Mens Rea [intent to sexually penetrate] + Circumstance [victim nonconsent] = Criminal Conduct [Rape]

Elements of first degree murder

Actus Reus (Voluntary Act) [killing another person] + Mens Rea [intent to kill] + Circumstance [premeditated, deliberate, or atrocious] + Causation [factual and legal cause of death] = Criminal Harm [Death]

administrative crimes

violations of federal and state agency rules that make up a controversial but rapidly growing source of criminal law

federal system

52 criminal codes, one for each of the 50 states, one for DC and one for the US criminal code

punishment

intentionally inflicting pain or other unpleasant consequences on another person

criminal punishment

penalties that meet four criteria: (1) inflict pain or other unpleasant consequences; (2) prescribe a punishment in the same law that defines the crime; (3) administered intentionally; (4) administered by the state

theories of criminal punishment

ways of thinking about the purposes of criminal punishment

Retributionists

inflicting on offenders physical and psychological pain ("hard treatment") so that they can pay for their crimes

preventionists

punishment is only a means to a greater good, usually the prevention or at least the reduction of future crime

culpability

only someone who intends to harm her victim deserves punishment; accidents don't qualify

justice

depends on culpability; only those who deserve punishment ought to receive it

deterrence

the use of punishment as a threat to deter people from offending

specific deterrence

aims to reduce crime by inflicting the actual punishment to convince offenders not to commit crimes in the future

general deterrence

aims to reduce crime by the threat of punishment to convince criminal wannabes in the general population to not commit a crime in the future

Incapacitation

prevents convicted criminals from committing future crimes by locking them up, or more rarely, by altering them surgically or executing them

Rehabilitation

aims to prevent future crimes by changing individual offenders so they'll want to play by the rules and won't commit any more crimes in the future

hedonism

the natural law that human beings seek pleasure and avoid pain

rationalism

the natural law that individuals can act to maximize pleasure and minimize pain, permitting human beings to apply natural laws mechanistically (according to rules) instead of having to rely on the discretionary judgement of individual decision makers

Classical Deterrence Theory

rational human beings won't commit crimes if they know that the pain of punishment outweighs the pleasure gained from committing crimes

principle of utility

permits only the minimum amount of pain necessary to prevent the crime

medical model" of criminal law

crime is a "disease" and criminals are "sick" in need of "treatment" and "cure

not guilty" verdict

doesn't mean "innocent"; it means that the government didn't prove its case beyond a reasonable doubt

guilty" verdict

legally, not necessarily factually, guilty; it means the government proved its case beyond a reasonable doubt

trial courts

where the cases for the state and defense are presented; their witnesses and the physical evidence are introduced and the fact finders (juries in jury trials or judges in nonjury bench trials) decide what the "true" story is and whether the evidence all a

appellate courts

in most states and the federal government, the two levels of appeals courts: an intermediate court of appeals and a supreme court

judgement

the court's judgement (sometimes called the court's decision) is how the court disposes of the case

opinion

the point of the story"; the court backs up its judgement by explaining how and why it applied the law (general principles and the elements of crimes) to the facts of the case

court's holding

the legal rule the court has decided to apply to the facts of the cases

court's reasoning

the reasons the court gives to support its holding

majority opinion

the law of the case; the opinion of the majority of the justices on the court who participated in the case

concurring opinion

agrees with the conclusions of either the majority or the dissenting opinion but provides different reasons for reaching the conclusion

plurality opinion

an opinion that represents the reasoning of the greatest number (but less than a majority) of justices

case citation

the numbers, letters, and punctuation that tell you where to locate the full case report; they follow the title of a case in the excerpts or in the bibliography at the end of the book

constitutional democracy

the majority can't make a crime out of conduct protected by the fundamental rights in the U.S. Constitution

rule of law

the idea that government power should be defined and limited by laws

principle of legality

no one can be convicted of, or punished for, a crime unless the law defined the crime and prescribed the punishment before the person engaged in the behavior that was defined as a crime

ex post facto laws

a retroactive law that does one of three things: (1) criminalizes an act that wasn't a crime when it was committed, (2) increases the punishment for a crime after the crime was committed, or (3) takes away a defense that was available to a defendant when

void for vagueness

the principle that statutes violate due process if they don't define a crime and its punishment clearly enough for ordinary people to know what it lawful

fair notice

in vague laws, isn't whether the defendant knows there's a law against the act but whether an ordinary, reasonable person would know that the act is a crime

rule of lenity

the requirement of courts to resolve every ambiguity in a criminal statute in favor of the defendant

narrow lenity rule

the requirement of courts to interpret ambiguous statutes in favor of defendants only in the core felony cases and other crimes requiring fault

presumption of innocence

the prosecution has the burden of proof when it comes to proving the criminal act and intent

burden of proof

to have to prove beyond a reasonable doubt "every fact necessary to constitute the crime charged

Proof beyond a reasonable doubt

the highest burden of proof in the US Criminal Justice system reserved for criminal cases; the prosecution must prove every element of the crime charged to this standard

affirmative defenses

defendants have to "start matters off by putting in some evidence in support" of their defenses of justification and excuse

burden of production

to make defendants responsible for presenting evidence in their own justification or excuse defense

Burden of Persuasion

defendants have to prove their justification or excuse defenses by a preponderance of the evidence

preponderance of the evidence

more than 50 percent of the evidence proves justification or excuse

expressive conduct

nonverbal actions that communicate ideas and feelings

five categories of expression not protected by the 1st ammendment

obscenity, profanity, libel and slander, fighting words, and clear and present danger

Clear and present danger doctrine

allows the government to punish words that "produce a clear and present danger of a serious substantive evil that rises far above public inconvenience, annoyance, or unrest

void-for-overbreadth doctrine

protects speech guaranteed by the First Amendment by invalidating laws written so broadly that the fear of prosecution creates a "chilling effect" that discourages people from exercising that freedom

second amendment

the right of law-abiding, responsible citizens to use arms in defense of hearth and home

constitutional right to privacy

a right that bans "all governmental invasions of the sanctity of a man's home and the privacies of life

fundamental right to privacy

a right that requires the government to prove that a compelling interest justifies invading it

cruel and unusual punishments

barbaric" punishments and punishments that are disproportionate to the crime committed

barbaric punishments

punishments considered no longer acceptable to civilized society

principle of proportionality

the punishment has to fit the crime

evolving standards" test

standards of decency that mark the progress of a maturing society

three-strikes laws

intended to make sure that offenders who are convicted of a third felony get locked up for a very long time (sometimes for life)

Apprendi rule

other than the fact of prior conviction, any fact that increases the penalty for a crime beyond the prescribed statutory maximum must be submitted to a jury and proved beyond a reasonable doubt

elements of a crime

to convict, the prosecution must prove beyond a reasonable doubt: (1) a criminal act (in all crimes), (2) criminal intent (in some crimes), (3) concurrence (in all crimes), (4) attendant circumstances (in some crimes), and (5) that criminal conduct caused

Actus Reus

the requirement that all crimes have to include a voluntary criminal act, which is the physical element of a crime and the first principle of criminal liability

conduct crimes

requiring a criminal act triggered by criminal intent

criminal acts

voluntary bodily movements

criminal conduct

a criminal act triggered by criminal intent (mens rea)

concurrence

the principle of criminal liability that requires that a criminal intent has to trigger the criminal act

attendant circumstances element

a "circumstance" connected to an act, an intent, and/or a bad result

bad result crimes (result crimes)

crimes that include all five elements: (1) a voluntary act, (2) the mental element, (3) circumstantial elements, (4) causation, and (5) a criminal harm

Criminal Homicide

conduct that causes another person's death

corpus delicti

Latin for "body of the crime"; it refers to the body of victims in homicides and to the elements of the crime in other crimes

manifest criminality

the requirement that mental attitudes have to turn into actions for a "crime" to be committed

one-voluntary-act-is-enough rule

conduct that includes a voluntary act satisfies the voluntary act requirement

automatism

unconscious bodily movements

fault-based defenses

defenses based on creating a reasonable doubt about the prosecution's proof of a voluntary act

status

character or condition of a person or thing

criminal omission

the failure to act when there's a legal duty to act

failure to report

not providing information when you're legally required to

failure to intervene

not actively preventing or interrupting injuries and death to persons or damage and destruction of property

legal duty

an obligation created by a statute, contract, or special relationship, and enforceable by law

moral duties

an obligation or norm created and enforced by society, conscience, and religion that's not enforceable by law

good Samaritan" doctrine

imposes a legal duty to help or call for help for imperiled strangers

american bystander rule

there's no legal duty to rescue or summon help for someone who's in danger, even if the bystander risks nothing by helping

legal fiction

pretending something is a fact when it's not, if there's a "good" reason for the pretense

actual possession

physical control of banned items on my person, for example, marijuana in my pocket

constructive possession

banned items not on my person but in places I control, for example, in my car or apartment

knowing possesssion

items possessors are aware is either on their person or in places they control

mere possession

items you possess but you don't know what they are

culpability or blameworthiness

the idea that it's fair and just to punish only people we can blame

mens rea

Latin for "guilty mind"; the mental state accompanying a wrongful behavior

motive

something that causes a person to act

subjective fault

fault that requires a "bad mind" in the actor

objective fault

requires no purposeful or conscious bad mind in the actor

Strict Liability

liability without either subjective or objective fault

general intent

the intent to commit the criminal act forbidden by statute

specific intent

the general intent to commit the actus reus of a crime plus the intent to cause a criminally harmful result

MPC's four mental states

purposely, knowingly, recklessly, negligently

purposely

the most blameworthy mental state requiring the actor's "conscious object" to be to commit crimes or cause criminal results

knowingly

the mental state of awareness in conduct crimes and, in result crimes, awareness that it's "practically certain" that the conduct will cause the bad result

recklessly

conscious creation of a "substantial and unjustifiable" risk of criminal harm

negligently

the mental attitude that a person acts negligently with respect to a material element of an offense when he should be aware of a substantial and unjustifiable risk that the material element exists or will result from his conduct. The risk must be of such

principle of concurrence

some mental fault has to trigger the criminal act in conduct crimes and the cause in result crimes

causation

holding an actor criminally accountable for the results of her conduct

factual cause

also called "but for" cause or "cause in fact"; if it weren't for an actor's conduct, the result wouldn't have occurred

legal ("proximate") cause

a subjective question that asks, "Is it fair to blame the defendant for the harm triggered by a chain of events her action(s) set in motion?

intervening cause

an event that comes between the initial act in a sequence and the end result

ignorance maxim

the presumption that defendants knew the law they were breaking

mistake of fact

a defense to criminal liability whenever the mistake prevents the formation of any fault-based mental attitude - namely, purposely, knowingly, recklessly, or negligently

failure-of-proof defenses

mistake defenses in which defendants usually present enough evidence to raise a reasonable doubt that the prosecution has proved the mens rea required for criminal liability