CRJ Midterm

If you arent religious, pick one and start praying.

Federalism

A system of political organization with two or more levels of
government

established in an attempt to prevent the centralization
of power

Dual Sovereignty

the federal government and state government
each possess authority over citizens, as well as particular policy
areas, free from interference of the other government.
• Most authority is to rest with the states

Examples of powers delegated to the United States (and not the
Examples of powers delegated to the United States (and not the

States) by the Constitution

Coin money, punish counterfeiters, and fix standards of weights and

measures

– Establish a post office and post roads

– Promote the progress of science and useful arts by providing artists and

scientists exclusive rights to their discoveries and writings

– Punish piracy and crimes on the high sea

– Declare war and raise armies; conduct diplomacy and foreign affairs

– Regulate interstate and foreign commerce

Three Branches of Government

Executive, Legislative, Judicial

Executive Branch

 President and president’s staff as well as administrative agencies the
president oversees
 Duty is to enforce the laws

Legislative Branch

 United States Congress

 Creates the laws known as statutes

Judicial Branch

Various federal courts of the land
 Interpret laws through administration of justice

Legislative Branch (Functions)

• Congress (House of Representatives + Senate)

• Writes, debates, and passes laws

• Controls federal budget and taxes

• Can declare war

• Approves treaties and presidential appointments

Executive Branch (functions)

• President, Vice President, Cabinet, Federal Agencies

• Enforces and carries out laws

• Commander-in-Chief of the military

• Signs or vetoes bills from Congress

• Conducts foreign policy and negotiates treaties

Judicial Branch (Functions)

• Supreme Court + Lower Federal Courts

• Reviews laws to ensure they follow the Constitution (judicial review)

• Settles disputes between states and individuals

• Can declare laws or executive actions unconstitutional

Marbury v Madison (1803)

Issue: Did Marbury have a right to his commission, and could the Supreme Court enforce it?
Decision: The Court ruled that while Marbury had a right to his commission, the Judiciary Act of 1789 was unconstitutional, so they couldn't enforce it.
Significance: Established judicial review, giving the Supreme Court the power to declare laws unconstitutional.

Criminal Law

The branch of the law that specifies what conduct constitutes crime, sets out the defenses to criminal accusations, and establishes punishments for such conduct.

Criminal Law Establishes

What constitutes a crime

– Conduct prohibited

– Punishment imposed

– Degree of intent

– Defenses available to defendant

Why do we punish?

– Retribution – punishment is needed and earned

 Offenders need to pay for their crimes.

– Utilitarianism - maximizing the greater good for the greatest number of people

Specific Intent

An intent to commit the exact crime charged or the precise outcome of the act, not merely an intent to commit the act without an intention to cause the outcome.

Specific Intent (example)

receiving stolen property – no scienter if the person taking had no

idea they were stolen so no crime

Actus Reus

An Act- usually a “wrongful deed”

the physical part of a crime; it is the act engaged in by the accused

if Mrs. X shoots and kills Mrs. T, the act is pulling the trigger of the gun.

Mens Rea

A state of mind that produces a crime.

General Intent

Intent to commit the crime without intention to cause the outcome

• Prove that the defendant intended to take the act that resulted in the prohibited outcome, general intent is proved

Malum In Se

Inherently evil crime

usually requires evil intent

Malum Prohibitum

Only criminal due to declaration by legislation

does not require evil intent

Malum in Se (Example)

Rape, arson, murder are all examples of….

Malum Prohibitum (example)

Failure to file quarterly taxes is an example of

Duty

legal obligation to intervene, prevent harm, or provide assistance.

Homicide

The killing of one human being by another

The felony-murder doctrine

One who caused unintended death during the commission (or attempted
commission) of any felony is guilty of murder
– Accomplice liability

Three elements of Felony Murder

1. Defendant engaged in commission or attempted commission of a named

felony

2. Felony death occurred during this commission

3. Casual connection between the crime and the death

Misdemeanor manslaughter

Death results from the commission of a misdemeanor, not a felony

• The person who commits the misdemeanor that results in an unintended death is responsible for the lowest form of criminal homicide

Assault

An intentional threat, show of force, or movement that could reasonably make a person feel in danger of physical attack or harmful physical contact

Battery

An intentional, unconsented to, physical contact by one person (or an object controlled by that person) with another person

First Degree Murder

• Most serious of crimes

• Willful, deliberate, and premeditated

• Generally death of victim is goal of defendant

• Specific intent crime

Second Degree Murder

Murder without premeditation.

Manslaughter

A crime, less severe than murder, involving the wrongful but nonmalicious killing of another person

Mayhem

Violently, maliciously, and intentionally inflicting a serious and

permanent wound

• Dismemberment and disfigurement fall under statutes

• Often include losing an eye, ear, or limb

• States without statutes classify them as aggravated battery

Provocation

An act by a victim that reasonably causes another to respond with violence. Provocation has the effect of mitigating a crime.

Rape

The crime of imposing sexual intercourse by force or otherwise without legally valid consent.

Statutory Rape

The crime of having sexual intercourse with a person under a certain state-set age, regardless of consent

Sheild Laws

A state law that prohibits use of most evidence of a rape (or other sexual crime) victim’s past sexual conduct at trial

True threat

A threatening statement that is not protected by the Free Speech Clause of the First Amendment.

The speaker intends, purposely, knowingly, or recklessly to communicate a serious expression of an intent to commit an unlawful violence to a particular individual or group of individuals that would cause a reasonable person to fear serious bodily harm or death and the threat is communicated to, and received by, the target individual or group

Sodomy

Unnatural sex acts

Incest

Actus reus – intercourse/other sexual conduct between family members

Megans Law

Enacted in New Jersey 1994 after Megan Kanka was attacked by

recidivist sex offender

• Sex offenders must register with local law enforcement agencies

• Every state has some form of it

• Chemical castration can be used to control sex offenders

Kidnapping

Taking away and holding a person illegally, usually against the person’s will or by force.

False imprisonment

• Occurs when one person interferes with another’s liberty by use of threat or force without authority

  • Lesser included offense of kidnapping

  • The difference is the lack of asportation in false imprisonment

Arson

Malicious burning of the dwelling of another

• Owner can be prosecuted for burning their own building

  • Additional crime of fraud may be prosecuted for attempting to defraud an insurance carrier

  • Mens rea is purposeful and reckless

  • Fire need not touch the structure – setting the fire is enough

  • Degree of crime is often graded

  • Structure can include any occupied structure or structure that is burned to collect insurance monies

Burglary

Unlawful entry of any structure for purpose of committing a felony or stealing from premises once inside

Eliminated the “breaking” requirement but does require some sort of unlawful entry

• Burglary on the rise

• Some states no longer require it to be at night

• May be graded

Burglary (common law)

Breaking/entering of another’s dwelling at night for the purpose of

committing a felony once inside

• Passing through an open door or window is not breaking and not burglary

• Crime against habitation, property, and person

Elements of Burglary

Must be a “breaking” followed by an unlawful entry

• Must be of another person’s dwelling, building, or structure

• Must be intent to commit felony or theft once inside

• Aggravated if committed at night

Trespass

The unlawful touching of the personal property of another

or entry onto real property of another

Trespass (elements)

• Remaining on or maintaining control of said property

• Civil and criminal

• Can occur on public lands

• First Amendment uses a forum analysis to determine reasonableness in restricting time, place, and manner

Criminal Mischief

The criminal offense of intentionally destroying another person’s property.

Larceny

The taking and carrying away of personal property of another

Intent to permanently deprive the owner of possession

Embezzlement

Conversion of personal property of another by one who has acquired lawful possession with an intent to defraud the owner

• requires lawful aquisition

• Prosecution must prove that conversion has taken place

Conversion

any act that deprives owner of property without owner’s

permission and without just cause

False Pretenses

A lie told to cheat another person out of his or her money or property. It is a crime in most states, though the precise definition varies.

Examples of False Pretenses

• Fraudulent checks

• Mail fraud/wire fraud

• RICO

Forgery

Making a fake document (or altering a real one) with intent to commit a fraud.

Receiving Stolen Property

The criminal offense of getting or concealing property known to be stolen by another.

Elements of Receiving Stolen Property

Can be actual or constructive possession

Property must have been stolen

Knowledge that property is stolen is required

Robbery

The illegal taking of property from the person of another by using force or threat of force.

Mens rea – specific intent to take the property and deprive the owner of it

• Assault mixed with larceny

• The threat distinguished robbery from larceny

• Threatened harm must be immediate and not future

Extortion

The taking and acquisition of property or compelling an act or omission of/by another person using a threat with an intent to permanently deprive the owner of the property or cause the act or omission to occur

The actor must intentionally communicate a threat and specifically

intend to take property or money to compel the victim to act

• Known as blackmail

Sextortion

the use of sexual images to commit extortion

Money Laundering

Channeling money through legitimate businesses in order to hide profits by criminal enterprises

Money Laundering (elements)

A crime to conduct a financial transaction knowing that the money

involved is the product of any illegal activity with the intent to one of the

following:

• carry on a “specified unlawful activity”

• commit tax evasion or tax fraud

• conceal or disguise the nature, location, source, ownership, or control of proceeds of the specified unlawful activity

• avoid a financial transaction reporting requirement

RICO

(19 U.S.C. 1961). A broadly applied 1970 federal law that creates certain “racketeering offenses” that include participation in various criminal schemes and conspiracies and that allows government seizure of property acquired in violation of the act.

Forgery Statutes

To prevent fraud and preserve the value of written

instruments

• An alteration of an instrument

Counterfeiting

the creation of a copy of an original item of value with sufficient similarity to convince a person of ordinary caution that it is real uttered or used with intent to defraud

The Model Penal Code consolidation

Provided the defendant is not prejudiced by doing so, the specification of one theft crime by the prosecution does not prohibit a conviction for another

• Declares thefts are felonies of the third degree when meeting certain requirements

Identity theft

The act of assuming another person’s identity by fraud

Identity theft (elements)

Mens rea – intent to gain something of value through deceit or to commit any other crime

– Offender can be convicted of this and the underlying crime

– Federal government has law as well as Act of 1998

Identity Theft and Assumption Deterrence Act of 1998

was a major federal law passed to address the growing issue of identity theft in the U.S. This act made it a federal crime to knowingly steal or use another person’s identity with the intent to commit unlawful activities

Computer crimes

Computers as target

• Theft of hardware and software

• Computer as a tool to commit a crime (cybercrime)

• Illegal entry into a bank’s computer records

• Hacking, phishing, spoofing, etc.

• The NCIC (National Crime Information Center) is a computerized system of records used by law enforcement agencies nationwide in the reporting and detection of wanted persons