Chapter 3 - 4 (College course)

What is criminology?

The scientific study of the causes and prevention of crime and the rehabilitation and punishment of offenders.

Define crime.

A violation of criminal law for which there is no legal justification.

What is deviance?

Violation of the social norms that specify appropriate or proper behavior (may include some crimes).

What were mid-evil punishments like?

They were especially brutal, often involving capital or corporal punishment.

What was 'The King's Court'?

A court where serious crimes were heard, and the accused faced trial by ordeal to determine whether they were guilty or not guilty.

What were the two main forms of trial by ordeal?

Fire and water, with God seen as determining guilt through the result.

What is a law?

a rule of conduct, generally enacted by a legislature in the form of a statute that mandates or prohibits certain forms of behavior

What is a penal code?

The written, organized, and compiled form of the criminal laws of a jurisdiction.

What is case law?

Law that results from judicial decisions.

What do laws do?

Laws help to:

1. Regulate human interaction

2. Enforce moral beliefs

3. Define the economic environment

4. To remedy wrongs

5. Identify wrongdoers

6. Mandate punishment and retribution

Courts -

interpret the statutory laws and determine "legislative intent."

(What was the "intent" of the legislature when it passed the law?)

What are the oldest laws?

→The first recorded laws were in Egypt dating as far back as 3000 BC

→ The Code of Hammurabi is also a well-preserved Babylonian code of law dating back to about 1754 BC - It is one of the oldest deciphered writings of significant length in the world

(Babylonia is modern day Iraq)

What did the Code of Hammurabi include?

These 282 rules include:

- economic provisions (prices, tariffs, trade, and commerce)

- family law (marriage and divorce)

- criminal law (assault, theft)

- civil law (slavery, debt)

→ Penalties varied according to the status (Degrees of crime)

What are the types of laws?

1. Criminal law

2. Civil law

3. Administrative law

4. Case law

5. Procedural law

What is criminal law?

the body of rules and regulations that define and specify the nature of, and punishments for, offenses of a public nature or wrongs committed against the state or society

What is substantive law?

describes which acts constitute crimes (murder, robbery, assault, etc.) and specifies punishments for those acts

What is procedural law?

specifies the rules that determine how those who are accused of crimes are to be treated by the judicial system

What is civil law?

governs relationships between and among people, businesses and other organizations, and agencies of government

What is a tort?

A violation of civil law.

What is administrative law?

the body of regulations that governments create to control the activities of businesses, industry, and individuals.

(e.g: tax codes, health codes, pollution, waste disposal, environmental protection, etc.)

Where does case law come from?

It comes from judicial decisions. It is referred to as the law of precedent.

What is vertical stare decisis?

decision (precedent) made by a higher court is binding on a lower court

What is horizontal stare decisis?

Court 1 Court Decision Court 2

⟶ ⟵

Court binds itself to a prior decision made by a court of the same level

Procedural law -

balances suspects' rights against the state's interests in speedy and efficient case processing.

Procedural law includes what?

- General rules of evidence

- Search and seizure

- Procedures to be followed during and after an arrest

What are the general categories of crimes?

There are many different types of crimes, which vary in severity.

Five categories of violations are:

1. Felonies

2. Misdemeanors

3. Offenses (Infractions)

4. Treason and espionage

5. Inchoate offenses

What are felonies?

serious crimes that are punishable by a year or more in prison (or by death in some states).

Felonies are referred to as what in NJ?

Crimes

______ through ____ degree crimes in New Jersey are indictable criminal offenses, which must be handled by the Superior Court in the Country in which crime allegedly occured.

Indictable offenses must be presented to a grand jury for indictment

1st - 4th

What are misdemeanors?

less serious crimes that are punishable by up to a year in a local correctional facility

Technically, all crimes are offenses, but the term "offense" is also used specifically to refer to minor violations of the law that are less serious than misdemeanors.

Most misdemeanors receive a what?

fine and probation

Technically, all crimes are?

offenses, but the term "offense" is also used specifically to refer to minor violations of the law that are less serious than misdemeanors.

What is an infraction?

A minor violation of the law that is less serious than a misdemeanor.

Ex. Jaywalking, borough ordinance violations, "ticketable" offenses...

Disorderly Persons Offenses and Petty Disorderly Persons Offenses are the _______ criminal offenses in New Jersey. They are handled in the municipal court.

lowest-level

What is treason?

a U.S. citizen's action to help a foreign government overthrow, make war against, or seriously injure the United States

Define espionage.

gathering, transmitting, or losing information relating to national defense in such a manner that the information becomes available to enemies of the U.S. and may be used to their advantage

What does inchoate mean?

(meaning "incomplete" or "partial") - offenses are those yet not completed

Inchoate Offenses -

→ Consists of an action or conduct that is a step toward the intended commission of another offense

(e.g: conspiracy, solicitation, and attempts)

What is solicitation?

to incite, counsel, advise, induce, urge, or command another to commit a crime

Define accomplice.

to aid, counsel, or encourage before or during another's crime

(e.g: a getaway driver)

What is conspiracy?

an agreement to achieve unlawful purpose (modern majority: agree to commit a crime & overt act)

What is an attempt?

substantial step, beyond mere preparation (last act, danger, proximity)

What are the three essential elements of a crime?

The essence of crime consists of (3) elements:

- Actus reus (the criminal/guilty act)

- Mens rea (a culpable mental state)

- Concurrence of the two

Actus reus + Mens rea = A crime

Different crimes have different ________ requirements.

mens rea

The prosecution must prove?

A physical action - Actus reus

A state of mind to commit a crime - Mens rea

What is actus reus?

(The guilty act ) The necessary first feature of any crime is some act in violation of the law. There has to be an act (Thoughts alone are not sufficient to constitute a crime)

Actus reus can include:

- Threats

- Attempted criminal acts

- Conspiracies

Define mens rea.

("guilty mind") is the second general component of a crime. It refers to a person's mental state at the time the act was committed.

What are the four levels of mens rea?

There are 4 levels of mens rea:

1. Purposeful

2. Knowing

3. Reckless

4. Negligent

Mens rea is ____ the same as motive

not

Motive -

a person's reason for committing a crime

Purposeful -

there is an intent to achieve same goal; the offender's action causes a certain result on a certain person(s)

Knowingly -

action undertaken with awareness that their conduct will result in certain consequences

- A person acts knowingly if he/she is aware that it is practically certain that his/her conduct will cause a specific result.

Recklessness -

the decision to commit a certain action despite knowing about associated risks.

(e.g: a person causes injury while driving drunk can be found guilty of recklessly causing harm

→They did not intend to hurt anyone, and did not expect it to happen, but knew they were taking the risk of hurting someone by driving while intoxicated.)

Negligence -

this is the mildest form of criminal culpability

→A person commits negligence when he/she fails to meet a reasonable standard of behavior for his/her circumstances, even if no negative consequences were intended.

Concurrence -

requires that the guilty mind and guilty act occur together for a crime to take place

What are strict liability offenses?

are a special category of crime that requires no culpable mental state (no mens rea).

The purpose of these absolute liability offenses is to protect the public.

e.g:

traffic laws

statutory rape

selling alcohol to minors

What does corpus delecti mean?

Corpus Delecti translates to "body of crime".

A person cannot be tried for a crime unless it can be proven that:

1) A criminal law has been violated, and

2) A person is criminally responsible

Define larceny.

1.) property from another is stolen

2.) by someone whose intent is to deprive the owner of possession

Types of Defenses to a Criminal Charge :

Those who are charged with a crime typically offer some defense.

4 categories of defense:

→Alibi

→Justifications

→Excuses

→Procedural Defenses

Alibi -

Latin for "in one or at another place."

What are justification defenses?

defendants admit committing the offense, but believe that they should not be held criminally responsible because of a legally sufficient justification for their actions.

What is self-defense?

Self-defense makes the claim that it was necessary to inflict harm on another to ensure one's own safety in the face of near-certain injury or death.

What is the retreat rule in self-defense?

If the opportunity to escape exists, then the courts require that the victim take that opportunity and flee. If the opportunity does not exist, then the victim can use reasonable force to defend his/herself.

What is the alter ego rule?

requires that the defendant "stand in the shoes" of the person who was being defended

Defense of Home and Property -

If that property is one's home, the castle exception to the retreat rule applies.

It is not necessary to retreat from one's own home before resorting to deadly force in the face of an immediate threat.

Necessity -

One can sometimes violate the law when the purpose of the action is to protect against even greater harm.

Consent -

If harm comes to an individual after he/she agreed to participate in the activity, then the question that is raised is this:

Was a crime committed if the victim gave consent?

Excuses -

defendants to admit committing the offense, but believe that they should not be held criminally responsible because of some personal condition or circumstance at the time of the act

Duress -

an unlawful threat or coercion that induces a person to act in a way they normally would not act.

What are the 3 elements to duress?

- There is immediate threat of death or serious bodily injury to the actor

- The actor has a well-grounded fear that someone will carry out the threat

- The actor has no reasonable opportunity for escape, except by committing the unlawful act

Age

an excuse defemse commonly called "infancy".

Involuntary Intoxication -

Drugs or alcohol (though being "tricked into consuming alcohol may be difficult to prove)

Rohypnol - powerful sedative ("Roofies")

Provacation -

recognizes that a person can intentionally be emotionally enraged by another to the point where they may be "provoked" to lose their self-control, and as a result, a crime is committed.

What is insanity?

- legal definition, not a medical one

Several different interpretations of insanity exist

- M'Naughten rule (New Jersey)

- Irresistible impulse

-Substantial capacity test (New York)

What is the M'Naghten rule?

A person is not guilty of a crime if, at the time of the event, they either did not know what they were doing wrong, or did not know that what they were doing was wrong

-Established by the English House of Lords

What is entrapment?

occurs when agents of law enforcement improperly or illegally induce a person to commit a crime that he or she would not otherwise have committed

- Police entrapment itself is not necessarily "illegal"; however, it is a potential cause for a not guilty verdict at trial