complicity
establishes when you can be criminally liable for someone else's conduct; applies criminal liability to accomplices and accessories
Vicarious liability
establishes when a party can be criminally liable because of a relationship; transfers the criminal conduct of one party to another because of their relationship
agency theory
the idea that we're autonomous agents with the freedom to choose our actions and become accountable for someone else's actions when we voluntarily "join in and identify with those actions
forfeited personal identity theory
the idea that when you choose to participate in crime, you forfeit your right to be treated as an individual; "your acts are my acts
accomplices
participants before and during the commission of crimes
accessories
participants after crimes are committed
principals in the first degree
persons who actually commit the crime
principals in the second degree
persons present when the crime is committed and who help commit it (lookouts and getaway drivers)
accessories before the fact
persons not present when the crimes are committed but who help before the crime is committed (for example, someone who provided a weapon used in a murder)
accessories after the fact
persons who help after the crime is committed (harboring a fugitive)
accomplice liability
liability that attaches for participation before and during a crime
accessory liability
liability that attaches for participation after crimes are committed (prosecution for a minor offense other than the crime itself)
Pinkerton" rule
the crime of conspiracy and the crime the conspirators agree to commit are separate offenses
accomplice actus reus
defendant took "some positive act in aid of the commission of the offense
mere presence rule
a person's presence at the scene of a crime doesn't by itself satisfy the actus reus requirement of accomplice liability
accessory
accessory after the fact; usually a misdemeanor
Respondeat Superior
A doctrine under which a principal or an employer is held liable for the wrongful acts committed by agents or employees while acting within the course and scope of their agency or employment.
parental responsibility statutes
based on parents' acts and omissions; differ from vicarious liability statutes, which are based on the parent-child relationship
criminal attempts
trying but failing to commit crimes
Criminal Conspiracy
making an agreement to commit a crime
criminal solicitation
trying to get someone else to commit a crime
Inchoate Offenses
from the Latin "to begin"; crimes that satisfy the mens rea of purpose or specific intent and the actus reus of taking some steps toward accomplishing the criminal purpose�but not enough steps to complete the intended crime
dangerous act rationale
looks at how close defendants came to completing their crimes
dangerous person rationale
concentrates on how fully defendants have developed their intent to commit their crime
general attempt statute
a single statute that applies to the attempt to commit any crime in the state's criminal code
specific attempt statutes
separate statutes that define attempts in terms of specific crimes in the criminal code, such as attempted murder, attempted robbery, and attempted rape-crimes that involved a specific intent
attempt mens rea
the specific intent to commit a crime
attempt actus reus
taking some steps toward completing a crime
last act rule
attempt actus reus requires all but the last act needed to complete the crime
proximity tests
help courts decide when defendants' acts have taken them further than just getting ready to attempt and brought them close enough to completing crimes to qualify as attempt actus reus
Dangerous Proximity Test
focus on dangerous conduct; they look at what remains for actors to do before they hurt society by completing the crime
dangerous person tests
look at what actors have already done to demonstrate that they're a danger to society, not just in this crime but, more important, in crimes they might commit in the future if they're not dealt with now
dangerous proximity to success test (the physical proximity test)
asks whether defendants have come "dangerously close" to completing the crime
indispensable element test
asks whether defendants have reached a point where they've gotten control of everything they need to complete the crime
unequivocality test
("the act speaks for itself") examines whether an ordinary person who saw the defendant's acts without knowing her intent would believe she was determined to commit the intended crime
probable desistance test
determines if defendants have gone far enough toward completing the crime that it's unlikely they'll turn back
MPC substantial steps test
test that requires that attempters take enough steps toward completing the crime to prove that they're determined to commit it
Legal Impossibility
occurs when actors intend to commit crimes, and do everything they can to carry out their criminal intent, but the criminal law doesn't ban what they did
Factual Impossibility
occurs when actors intend to commit a crime and try to but it's physically impossible because some fact or circumstance unknown to them interrupts or prevents the completion of the crime
extraneous factor
a "stroke of luck"- namely, a circumstance beyond the attempter's control that prevents the completion of the crime
Voluntary Abandonment Defense (Voluntary Renunciation Defense)
defendants who voluntarily and completely renounce their criminal purpose can avoid criminal liability
conspiracy
the crime of agreeing with one or more people to commit a crime
conspiracy actus reus
consists of two parts: (1) an agreement to commit a crime and (2) an overt act in furtherance of the agreement
overt act requirement
the requirement of an act that furthers the agreement in conspiracy
conspiracy mens rea
the mental element in conspiracy, frequently identified as specific intent by authorities, but it's not defined clearly in statutes and it's defined inconsistently by courts
criminal objective
the criminal goal of an agreement to commit a crime
unilateral approach to conspiracy parties
the rule that not all conspirators have to agree with or even know the other conspirators
criminal objective of the conspiracy
the object of conspiracy agreements has to be to commit crimes
wheel conspiracies
one or more defendants participate in every transaction (the hub of the wheel) and others participate in only one transaction (the spokes in the wheel)
chain conspiracies
participants at one end of the chain may know nothing of those at the other end, but every participant handles the same commodity at different points, such as manufacture, distribution, and sale
Racketeer Influenced and Corrupt Organizations Act (RICO)
imposes enhanced penalties for "all types of organized criminal behavior, that is, enterprise criminality - from simple political to sophisticated white-collar schemes to traditional Mafia-type endeavors
enterprise
just about any form of human endeavor
racketeering
original meaning was the extortion of money or advantage by threat or force; now the meaning has expanded to include a pattern of illegal activity (such as extortion and murder) carried out in the furtherance of an enterprise owned or controlled by those
pattern of racketeering activity
committing two or more of a huge list of related crimes
soliciation
the crime of trying to get someone else to commit a crime
solicitation actus reus
acts that include some kind of inducement to commit the solicited crime
solicitation mens rea
requires words that convey that their purpose is to get someone to commit a specific crime
born-alive rule
the rule that to be a person, and therefore a homicide victim, a baby had to be "born alive" and capable of breathing and maintaining a heartbeat on its own
feticide
the crime of killing a fetus
murder
killing a person with "malice aforethought
manslaughter
killing a person without malice aforethought
justifiable homicide
killing in self-defense
excusable homicide
killings done by someone "not of sound memory and discretion
Criminal Homicide
all homicides that are neither justified nor excused
malice aforethought
originally the mental state of intentional killing, with some amount of spite, hate, or bad will, planned in advance of the killing
Depraved Heart Murder
extremely reckless killings
intent to cause serious bodily injury murder
no intent to kill is required when a victim dies following acts triggered by the intent to inflict serious bodily injury short of death
Serious Bodily Injury
Bodily injury that creates a substantial risk of death or that causes death, serious permanent disfigurement, or protracted loss or impairment of the function of any bodily member or organ.
express" malice aforethought
the mental element of killings that fit the original meaning of "murder"- intentional killings planned in advance
implied" malice aforethought
the mental element of intentional killings without premeditation or reasonable provocation; unintentional killings during the commission of felonies; depraved heart killings; and intent to inflict grievous bodily harm killings
murder actus reus
the act of killing by poisoning, striking, starving, drowning, and a thousand other forms by which human nature can be overcome
murder mens rea
can include purposeful, knowing, or reckless as the mental element in killing
first-degree murder
the only crime today in which the death penalty can be imposed, consisting of (1) premeditated, deliberate intent to kill murders and (2) felony murders
capital cases
death penalty cases in death penalty states and "mandatory life sentence without parole" cases in non-death penalty states
bifurcation procedure
the requirement that the death penalty decision be made in two phases: a trial to determine guilt and a second separate proceeding, after finding of guilt, to consider the aggravating factors for, and mitigating factors against, capital punishment.
deadly weapon doctrine
one who intentionally uses a deadly weapon on another human being and thereby kills him is presumed to have formed the intent to kill
second degree murder
murders that aren't first-degree murders, including intentional murders that weren't premeditated or deliberate, felony murders, intent to inflict serious bodily injury murders, and depraved heart murders
felony murder rule derives
unintentional deaths that occur during the commission of some felonies are murders
manslaughter
an ancient common law crime created by judges, not by legislators, consisting of two crimes: voluntarily or involuntarily killing another person
Voluntary Manslaughter
suddenly and intentionally killing another person in the heat of anger following adequate provocation; elements include murder actus reus, mens rea, causation, and death
adequate provocation
the requirement that the provocation for killing in anger has to be something the law recognizes, the defendant himself had to be provoked, and that a reasonable person would have been provoked
objective test of cooling-off time
requires that a reasonable person under the same circumstances would have had time to cool off
words can never provoke" rule
the rule that words are never adequate provocation to reduce murder to manslaughter
last straw" rule (or "long smoldering"/"slow burn" rule)
define adequate provocation as "a smoldering resentment or pent-up rage resulting from earlier insults or humiliating events culminating in a triggering even that, by itself, might be insufficient to provoke the deadly act
extreme mental (or emotional disturbance manslaughter)
a homicide committed under the influence of extreme mental or emotional disturbance for which there is reasonable explanation or excuse. The reasonableness of suck explanation or excuse shall be determined from the viewpoint of the person in the actor's s
paramour rule
the common law rule that a husband who caught his wife in the act of adultery had adequate provocation to kill
gay panic
adequate provocation based on "the theory that a person with latent homosexual tendencies will have an extreme and uncontrollably violent reaction when confronted with a homosexual proposition
emotion-act distinction
separating the emotions that led to a killing from the question of whether it was reasonable
act reasonableness
meaning "a finding that a reasonable person in the defendant's shoes would have responded as violently as the defendant did
emotional reasonableness
a finding that "the defendant's emotional outrage or passion was reasonable
involuntary manslaughter
unintentional killing (mens rea) by a voluntary act or omission (actus reus)
criminal negligence manslaughter
death caused by a person who is aware that her acts create a substantial and unjustifiable risk of death or serious bodily injury, but acts anyway
unlawful act manslaughter (or misdemeanor manslaughter)
unintended deaths occurring during the commission of non homicide offenses
malum probitum crime
death has to be a foreseeable consequence of the unlawful act; the act is unlawful only because it's prohibited by a specific statute ordinance
euthanasia
helping another person to die
presumption of bodily integrity
a state can't exercise power over individual members of society except to prevent harm to others