Intro to Criminal Law: Midterm Exam

Retribution

Looks back to the crime committed and seeks to punish the individual for that crime.

Prevention

Looks forward, inflicting pain not to punish the crime itself, but to prevent further crimes.

General Deterrence

Attempts to prevent the general population, who haven’t committed crimes, from doing so.

Special Deterrence

Attempts to keep an already convicted criminal from committing future crimes.

Incapacitation

The physical restraint of incarceration prevents the commission of further crimes during the length of their sentence.

Rehabilitation

Based on the medical model. Believes crime is a disease and criminals are sick. Punishment should be to “cure” criminal patients by treatments.

Ex Post Facto Laws

The ban on retroactive lawmaking.

Criminality

The first kind of ex post facto law. Criminalizes an act that was innocent when it was committed.

Punishment

The second kind of ex post facto law. Increases punishment for a crime after the crime was committed.

Defense

The third kind of ex post facto law. Takes away a defense that was available to a defendant when the crime was committed.

Void for Vagueness Doctrine

The principle that an individual cannot be deprived of life, liberty, or property without appropriate legal procedures and safeguards.

14th Amendment

No state shall deny any person within its jurisdiction the equal protection of the law.

General Classification / Rational Basis

The lowest level of scrutiny.

• I.e. Habitual offenders vs. First-time offenders

Gender / Heightened Scrutiny

Intermediate level of scrutiny. A fair and substantial relationship between the classification based on gender and “legitimate state ends”.

Race / Strict Scrutiny

The highest level of scrutiny. Classification based on immutable characteristics with which they were born always violates the constitution.

1st Amendment

Congress shall make no law abridging the freedom of speech.

Freedom of Speech

Not just speech and words, but any form of expressive conduct (gestures, donating to political candidates, etc.)

Exceptions of Freedom of Speech

Obscenity, profanity, libel/slander, fighting words, clear and present danger.

Incitement

Speech “directed at inciting or producing imminent lawless action” and “likely to incite or produce such action”. The government must meet this to pass a law which restricts freedom of speech.

Right to Privacy

Bans all government invasion into the sanctity of a person’s home and the privacies of life.

Which amendments is the Right to Privacy based on?

The 1st, 3rd, 4th, 5th, 9th, and 14th amendments.

Privacy Standard

The government must have a “compelling interest” in order to criminalize private conduct.

2nd Amendment

The right to bear arms. "A well regulated militia, being necessary to the security of a free State, the right of the people to keep and bear arms, shall not be infringed.”

Impact of D.C. v. Heller

1. Banned private citizens from possessing handguns (with exceptions).

2. Except law enforcement. Each registrant must have had their gun unloaded and disassembled.

3. The supreme court ruled that it was constitutional as, “the right of law-abiding, responsible citizens to use arms in defense of hearth and home.”

8th Amendment

Prohibits cruel and unusual punishment.

Barbaric Punishments

Cruel and unusual.

In re Kemmler

Determined that the sentence of death by electric chair was a more humane version of the death penalty, opposed to hanging. Law enforcement saw it as a better option because death came quicker, unlike a hanging where it is torturous and drawn out.

“Cruel and Unusual”

Punishment that is considered unacceptable because it is too severe, degrading, or humiliating.

The Principle of Proportionality

The punishment must fit the crime.

Actus Reus

“The guilty act”. The first principle of criminal liability. No one should be punished, except for something he or she has done.

Manifest Criminality

A theory that criminal acts are obvious and can be recognized as illegal by any neutral observer.

Involuntariness

A bodily movement that is otherwise not the product of the effort or determination of the actor, either conscious or habitual.

Requirements of Voluntariness

A person is not guilty of an offense unless his liability is based on conduct which includes a voluntary act or the omission to perform an act of which he is physically capable.

Omissions

“Failure to act.”

Failure to Report

The first kind of omission. Something required by law.

Failure to Intervene

The second kind of omission. To prevent injuries or death of persons.

Legal Duty

Failure to intervene is only considered a crime if the defendant had a legal duty to act.

Special Relationships

The first way to create a legal duty. When the law recognizes the relationship between two people creates a legal duty to act.

• I.e. Parent-child, doctor-patient.

Statutes

The second way to create a legal duty. Laws passed to counteract law violations after they’d occurred. Generally, failure to perform moral duties is not a crime.

Contractual Agreement

The third way to create a legal duty. A legally binding agreement between parties that outlines specific responsibilities, thereby establishing a duty to act in accordance with the contract terms. 

Legal Fiction

Pretending something is a fact when it is not.

• Control

• Knowledge

Actual Possession

A form of controlled possession. The illegal item is within one’s physical control.

Constructive Possession

A form of controlled possession. The illegal item is within one’s control, but not in his/her actual physical control.

Knowing Possession

A form of knowledge of possession. Awareness of what you possess.

Mere Possession

A form of knowledge of possession. The illegal item is within your possession, but you’re not aware of it.

Mens Rea

“The guilty mind.” The mental state at the time an individual committed the crime. Must be proven beyond a reasonable doubt.

Negligently

The lowest level of culpability in mental states. Unconscious creation of a substantial and unjustifiable risk. Not aware of the risk, but should have known.

Recklessly

The second lowest level of culpability in mental states. Awareness of the risk of causing a criminal result, though not intending to cause the actual result. More than just an ordinary risk, but a substantial and unjustifiable risk.

Knowingly

The second highest level of culpability in mental states. Consciously acting or causing a result. Not intending to commit a criminal act, but aware that criminal harm could result from one’s actions.

Purposely

The highest level of culpability in mental states. The most blameworthy state of mind. Specific intent to act and/or cause a criminal harm.

Causation

The legal determination of whether a defendant's actions caused a crime to occur. It's based on the idea that actions have consequences, like a chain reaction. 

Bad Result Crimes

Criminal conduct that leads to death or injury to a person and/or destruction of property.

Factual Cause

The first kind of causation. Objective. “But for” the defendant’s actions, the bad result would not have occurred.

Proximate Cause

The second form of causation. Did the defendant’s action cause the harm, such as we should hold him legally responsible.

Mistake of Fact

To believe the facts are one thing when it is another. It can be used as a defense, if it negates a criminal intent.

Ignorance of the Law

No excuse. The ignorance of the law is no excuse!

Strict Liability

A statute that has no mens rea. If one commits the act, then they’re guilty. State of mind is irrelevant.

Affirmative Defenses

Defenses where the defendant has the burden of production.

Burden of Persuasion

The obligation to convince a jury that a fact is more likely than not.

Justification Defense

Defendant admits responsibility for the act, but asserts that he did the right thing under the circumstances.

Unprovoked Attack

The first form of self defense. One cannot be the initial attacker. No strikes or retaliation.

• Withdraw Exception: If attacker completely withdraws from the attack the provoked then use self defense to defend against later attack by initial victim.

Imminent Danger

The second form of self defense. Honestly and reasonably believes the unprovoked attack is going to happen right now.

Necessity

The third form of self defense. Honestly and reasonably believes there’s a need to use force to defend against the attack.

• Death or serious/grievous bodily injuries.

• Serious felonies (rape, sodomy, kidnapping).

Reasonable Force

The fourth form of self defense. Use only the amount of force one reasonably believes is necessary to repel the attack.

The New Castle Laws

Self defense laws have majorly transformed in the U.S. since 2005. Laws have made more space to validate deadly force. Allows the use of deadly force to defend against unlawful entry into a home, vehicle, or workplace.