Criminal Law Essay Workshop – Core Doctrine & Exam Tips

A comprehensive set of Q&A flashcards covering party liability, responsibility defenses, homicide classifications, property crimes, inchoate offenses, and core defenses, aligned with Professor Ide-Don’s Criminal Law Essay Workshop notes.

Who is a principal under party liability doctrine?

The person who actually commits the actus reus of the crime.

What two intents must an accomplice have to incur liability?

Intent to help the principal commit the crime and intent that the principal actually commit the charged crime.

Is mere knowledge of a crime enough to create accomplice liability?

No. Mere knowledge, without an intent to assist, does not make a person an accomplice.

For which additional crimes is an accomplice liable beyond the target offense?

All crimes that are the natural and probable consequence of the accomplice’s conduct.

What three steps must an accomplice take to withdraw effectively?

(1) Repudiate prior aid, (2) do all possible to countermand prior assistance, and (3) withdraw before the chain of events is unstoppable.

Define an accessory after the fact.

A person who aids a felon to avoid apprehension after the felony is complete, knowing the felony was committed.

Which insanity test asks whether the defendant understood the nature and quality of the act or its wrongfulness?

The M’Naghten Rule.

Under the irresistible impulse test, when is a defendant not guilty?

When a mental disease or defect prevented him from being able to conform his conduct to the law.

What is the Durham (product) test for insanity?

The defendant is not guilty if the crime would not have been committed but for the mental disease or defect.

State the Model Penal Code (substantial capacity) test for insanity.

The defendant is not guilty if, due to mental disease or defect, he lacked substantial capacity either to appreciate the wrongfulness of his conduct or to conform his conduct to the law.

At what point in time is competency to stand trial assessed?

At the time of trial, not when the offense was committed.

What two abilities are evaluated to decide competency to stand trial?

(1) Comprehension of the nature of the proceedings and (2) ability to consult with counsel with a reasonable degree of rational understanding.

When is voluntary intoxication a defense?

Only to specific-intent crimes when the intoxication negates the required intent.

Is voluntary intoxication a defense to malice, recklessness, or strict-liability crimes?

No.

To which crimes can involuntary intoxication be a defense?

Both general and specific-intent crimes, and malice crimes, if the intoxication negates an element of the offense.

What two causation requirements must the prosecution prove in a homicide case?

Actual (but-for) cause and proximate (legal) cause.

When does transferred intent apply in criminal law?

When intent to harm one person results in harm to another; liability transfers for crimes like homicide, battery, or arson.

List the four mental states that constitute malice aforethought for common-law murder.

Intent to kill, intent to inflict serious bodily injury, reckless indifference to an unjustifiably high risk to human life, and felony murder.

Under the felony-murder rule, when is a defendant liable for a killing?

When an unintended but foreseeable death occurs during or in flight from an inherently dangerous felony.

Name the traditional inherently dangerous felonies for felony murder.

Burglary, arson, robbery, rape, and kidnapping.

What is the ‘point of safety’ limitation on felony murder?

Once the felon reaches a place of temporary safety after completing the felony, subsequent deaths are not attributed under felony murder.

Is a defendant liable under felony murder for a bystander killed by police?

Majority rule: No, because the police are not the defendant’s agents.

Define premeditation for first-degree murder.

Any period, even a moment, during which the defendant reflected on and decided to kill.

What distinguishes deliberation from premeditation?

Deliberation requires the decision to kill be made in a cool, dispassionate manner.

What are the objective and subjective components of adequate provocation for voluntary manslaughter?

Objective: A reasonable person would be provoked. Subjective: The defendant was actually provoked.

How can imperfect self-defense reduce murder to voluntary manslaughter?

When the defendant unreasonably believes deadly force is necessary, the homicide is mitigated to voluntary manslaughter.

What two theories create involuntary manslaughter liability?

(1) Criminal negligence and (2) an unlawful act not rising to felony murder that results in death.

Define criminal battery.

The intentional, unlawful application of force to another that causes bodily harm or is offensive.

What are the two alternative definitions of criminal assault?

Attempted battery or intentionally placing another in apprehension of imminent bodily harm.

List the elements of common-law kidnapping.

Unlawful confinement of a person against their will with movement or concealment.

What is false imprisonment?

Unlawful confinement of a person without consent.

State the common-law definition of rape.

Unlawful sexual intercourse with a person against their will by force or threat of immediate force.

Provide the elements of larceny.

Trespassory taking and carrying away of personal property of another, without consent, with intent to permanently deprive at the time of taking.

How does embezzlement differ from larceny?

Embezzlement involves fraudulent conversion by someone already in lawful possession of the property.

What must the defendant obtain in false pretenses that makes it distinct from larceny?

Title to the property, not mere possession.

Define robbery.

Larceny committed from the victim’s person or presence by force or intimidation.

What are the five common-law elements of burglary?

Breaking, entering, dwelling of another, at nighttime, with intent to commit a felony therein.

What are the elements of receiving stolen property?

Receiving control of stolen property, knowing it is stolen, with intent to permanently deprive the owner.

List the three elements of conspiracy under the majority rule.

(1) Agreement between two or more people to commit an unlawful purpose, (2) specific intent to agree and achieve the objective, and (3) an overt act in furtherance.

Does conspiracy merge with the completed offense?

No. A defendant can be convicted of both conspiracy and the substantive crime.

How can a conspirator withdraw to avoid liability for future crimes (but not the conspiracy itself)?

Communicate notice of intent not to participate to co-conspirators or inform the police before an overt act occurs.

What constitutes attempt?

A substantial step toward commission of a crime coupled with specific intent to commit that crime.

Is mere preparation enough for attempt liability?

No. The act must be a substantial step beyond mere preparation.

Under the common law, can a defendant abandon an attempt after a substantial step?

No. Abandonment is not a defense once a substantial step is taken, absent a modern statutory exception.

When is deadly force permissible in self-defense?

Only to protect against imminent use of deadly force.

Is there a duty to retreat before using non-deadly force?

Never.

Under the majority rule, must one retreat before using deadly force?

No duty to retreat.

When can an initial aggressor regain the right to self-defense?

If met with deadly force after using non-deadly force, or by complete withdrawal communicated in good faith.

Define imperfect self-defense.

Use of unreasonable deadly force that mitigates murder to voluntary manslaughter.

Under what conditions may a person use force to defend another?

Under circumstances that would justify self-defense if the defender were in the third party’s shoes.

What are the basic elements of duress?

An unlawful threat that causes a reasonable belief that only violating the law avoids death or serious bodily harm, and the defendant commits the act because of it.

Is duress a defense to intentional homicide under the majority rule?

No, but it is available for criminally negligent homicide.

What theft-crime exam tip applies when multiple theft offenses appear in a fact pattern?

Discuss each theft crime separately in the analysis, even if they merge in conclusion.

What must be analyzed to earn full credit when applying the felony-murder rule on an exam?

Identify and analyze the elements of the underlying inherently dangerous felony before applying the felony-murder analysis.

Why is causation usually discussed briefly in homicide essays?

Because causation analysis is only needed in depth when facts suggest a dispute or ambiguity on cause.

What recent exam trend involves statutes?

Questions may provide a specific statute to apply rather than relying on common-law definitions.