Criminal Law and Defenses

Actus Reus

The specific act required to convict a person for a specific crime

American Law Institute Rule (ALI Rule)

A standard for insanity that asks whether the defendant lacked the substantial capacity to appreciate the criminality of the act or conform to the law

Case Law

Decisions judges have made in previous court cases

Civil Law

(1) The system of laws, sometimes known as the Roman system, used in many contrives that do not use the common law system; or (2) noncriminal law, or law that concerns disputes between individual parties

Common Law

The legal system created in England after the Norman Conquest and still used in the United States today

Consent

A defense against criminal liability because the victim actually gave the defendant permission to engage in the prohibited acts

Constitution

A document that specifies the components of a government, the duties of each component, and the limits of their power

Corpus Delicti

“The body of the crime”; the specific elements that must be proved to convict someone of a specific offense

Criminal Intent

The degree to which a defendant must have intended his or her actions or the consequences of those actions

Criminal Law

A body of laws in which people are punished by the government for specific prohibited actions

Damages

Payments a defendant must make to a winning plaintiff in a civil lawsuit to compensate the plaintiff for the injuries or costs the defendant’s actions have caused

Defendant

The person against whom criminal charges or a civil lawsuit are filed

Double Jeopardy

The Fifth Amendment right that protects anyone from being tried twice for the same offense

Duress

A defense in which the defendant claims he or she was forced or coerced into committing a crime

Durham Rule

A standard for insanity that asks whether the defendant’s conduct was the product of a mental disease or defect

Entrapment

A situation in which law enforcement officers or agents trap or trick a person into committing a crime that the person would not otherwise have committed

Felony

A serious criminal offense that brings a potential punishment of a year or more in state or federal prison

Guilty but Mentally Ill (GBMI)

Verdict for a person recognized to be mentally ill but still considered criminally responsible for the crime

Hammurabi’s Code

The second earliest known written law, which was set down by Babylonian king Hammurabi (1792–1750 BCE). The basic principle was that violators should suffer punishment equal to their offense

Inchoate Crimes

Crimes that have been begun but not completed or are crimes that are completed by someone else

Infancy

A defense that sometimes protects very young offenders from criminal liability because they do not understand the consequences of their actions

Infraction

A minor violation of a local ordinance or state law that brings a potential punishment of fines

Insanity

A defense in which the defendant admits committing the criminal act but claims not to be culpable due to mental illness

Irresistible Impulse Test

A standard for insanity that asks whether the defendant’s conduct had a mental disease or defect, as a result of which the defendant was unable to control his or her behavior

Laws

Formal rules of conduct sanctioned by the state

McNaughtan Rule

A standard for insanity that asks whether the defendant’s conduct was unable to know what he or she was doing to distinguish right from wrong

Mens Rea

The level off criminal intent, or the culpable mental state usually required to convict a person of a criminal act

Misdemeanor

A criminal offense that is punished by fines or a maximum of a year in a county or city jail

Model Penal COde

A suggested code of criminal law drafted by the American Law Institute and used to guide the states in modernizing their laws

Necessity

A defense in which the defendant must demonstrate that he or she had to commit the crime to avoid more severe consequences

Not Guilty by Reason of Insanity (NGRI)

A verdict in which the jury determines that the defendant is not criminally culpable due to mental illness

Ordinances

Laws enacted by local governments such as cities and counties

Plaintiff

The party who initiates the lawsuit in a civil case

Precedent

Previous court decisions that have binding authority on subsequent cases

Restitution

In a criminal case, the money a defendant must pay a victim to compensate the victim for damages. Sometimes, services are also performed to benefit the victim

Rule of Law

The guiding principle of the U.S. legal system, which states that no single person is more powerful than the law

Statutes

Laws enacted by state legislatures or by Congress

Strict Liability Offenses

Crimes that have no men’s rea requirement; a person who commits the requisite actus reus may be convicted of the offense regardless of intent

Torts

Civil disputes in which one party sues another for the damages the defendant’s actions have caused