Criminal law, Goel, Fall 2017
FUNDAMENTALS OF CRIMINAL LAW
Purpose
To uphold society’s morals
Punishing failure to uphold these morals
Keep on track for social utopia
Goal
Moral condemnation/stigma
Difference from Civil Law
Burden of proof in Civil case is preponderance of evidence, & balance of probabilities is 51%
Burden of proof in Criminal Case
To put “checks” into place for power of the state
Every element of the offense has to be proved beyond a reasonable doubt
Criminal law has harsher sanctions—loss of liberty
Criminal law is on behalf of the State/people/public
Civil law is private (between persons)
Civil law’s goal is to make the person whole
Sources
Common Law
Judge made law
Common law fills gaps that statutes have left open to provide meaning/principles that the legislature can’t cover in all different cases
Criminal Law Statutes
Legislatively made
Most crimes are defined by statute (elements/burden of proof) – how all crimes to be charged are determined
Model Penal Code (MPC)
Effort to standardize/reduce inconsistencies
Courts turn to it for interpretation of statutes and state penal codes
Constitutional law
States are bound to the constitution/ places limitations
Contains guarantees such as 5th, 8th, 14th amendments
Where Courts Look for Interpretation of Statutes:
Legislative history of an act
Circumstances surrounding its adoption
Earlier statute on the same subject
Common law at the time the statute was enacted
Previous interpretations of similar statute
PRINCIPLES OF PUNISHMENT
Goals
Deterrence
General- make an example of defendant to deter others (public) from committing crime
Specific- preventing that individual from committing same crime or another again (punished once – not again)
Retribution
For sake of punishment or to repay moral harm done to society (eye for an eye)
Rehabilitation
Punishment may help to reform criminal
Alter character, improve skills, teach them to control crime-committing urges
Incapacitation/Imprisonment
Putting them in prison keeps them from harming society (death penalty does that forever)
Physically prevents dangerous people from acting on dangerous tendencies
Denunciation and Condemnation
Moral Stigma
Theories of Punishment
Utilitarian
Belief that criminals will avoid criminal activity if they think being punished outweighs the award of committing the crime
Forward looking
Stresses deterrence/rehabilitation
Looks at what society would benefit from in punishment
Retributivist
The belief that people violate the social contract on their own free will justify blame/deserve looking
Backward looking
Focuses on the crime itself, not the result of the crime
PROS
CONS
Focuses on benefit of utility of punishment
Could justify punishing the innocent
Rehabilitation doesn’t really work
By seeing the criminal needs treatment- we remove them from sphere of justice
PROS
CONS
Prevents private vengeance
Senseless
Acknowledges emotional/moral elements (smart enough to know right from wrong)
Glorifies anger and hatred
Demonstrates respect for the personhood of the criminal
Based on emotion not reason
Restores societal balance
PROPORTIONALITY OF PUNISHMENT
“No crime without law, No punishment without law”
What is legal/unlawful is for the legislature to decide
We do not punish people for doing wrong or immoral or bad things, UNLESS there is already a law to that effect that makes it a particular crime
Constitutional Limits
Constitution imposes limits as a source of criminal law
First 10 Amendments (“Bill of Rights”) limit federal power in relation to individuals
1st Amend. – Freedom of Speech
4th Amend. – From unreasonable search & seizure
8th Amend. – From cruel & unusual punishment
What is criminal
What is grossly disproportional
What is barbarous in infliction (waterboarding, etc.)
EX POST FACTO LAW: after the fact legislation
MPC Sentencing Objectives
Utilitarian Focuses on rehabilitation
“To forbid and prevent conduct that unjustifiably and inexcusably inflicts or threatens substantial harm to individual or public interests” (MPC Sec. 1.02)
Proportionality: Non-Capital Offenses
Primacy of the legislature
Variety of legitimate penological schemes
Nature of our federal system
Requirement that proportionality review be guided by objective factors
Legality Principle RE: Criminal Statutes
Should be understandable to reasonable law-abiding citizens (vagueness, statutory interpretation)
Should be created so that they do not “delegate basic policy matters to police, judges and juries for resolution/subjective interpretation” (statute cannot be so broad or vague that it lacks meaning and the police/judge/jury is giving it content instead of L)
Judicial interpretation of ambiguous statutes should be “biased in favor of the accused”
ACTUS REUS + MENS REA + CAUSATION = CRIME
Ingredients to a Crime
An Act
Mental Element
Cause a Social Harm
Without act (or omission) and mental element connected to the social harm— we have NO CRIME
Principles of punishment demand a voluntary violation of the law
Need ALL THREE elements to find criminal culpability
Prosecution must prove each & every offense with each element beyond a reasonable doubt
ACTUS REUS
a voluntary act; (2) that causes (see Causation); (3) social harm
Voluntary- Any volitional movement, including habitual conduct/ must be defendant’s act—not that act of another person
Involuntary- Spasms, seizures, bodily movements while unconscious or asleep – no actus reus in this case
Actus Reus can be an omission
OMISSIONS
Failure to act
Usually not culpable for failure to act, EXCEPT SCARS:
S – statutory meaning
C – contractual
A – assumed care of another voluntarily
R – risk was created by you
S – status relationship
The liability only applies when the omitter is physically capable of performing the act you do not ha
ever a defense
Does not apply:
When the social harm is different
When a statute prohibits it (cases where the victim is special, queen or president)
When intended social harm occurs and additional harm also occurs (jurisdictions are split on this.
GENERAL INTENT v. SPECIFIC INTENT CRIMES (under Common Law only, under MPC all are specific intent)
Really depends on statutory interpretation
General intent- the only intent that is required for the actus reus
All you need is some kind of morally blameworthy state of mind (reckless, etc.)
Reasonable mistake may relieve culpability
If mistake is less than reasonable à then held culpable
Specific intent- the mens rea required goes beyond that required for the general actus reus of the offense (“for the purposes of…..”, “with the intent to…..”)
Specific intent can come from:
Attendant Circumstances (“knowing to to be stolen”)
Future Conduct (“with the intent to commit a felony therein”)
Motive (“for the purposes of…..”)
Offenses that read as a general intent offense, sometimes you can look at the statute more carefully and read it as a specific intent crime.
Knowingly using a false Id belonging to another person.
General intent portion is: knowingly using a false Id card.
Belonging to another person
If general intent D doesn’t need to know that part
If specific intent D must know it belongs to another person. (knowledge as to an attendant circumstance)
When we want to raise the burden on the prosecution we will make it a specific intent crime.
Use tools of statutory construction to argue general or specific intent crime.
Requires proof of an intention by the actor to perform some future act or achieve some further consequence, beyond the conduct or result that constitutes the social harm of the offense
Requires proof of some special motive for the conduct
Provides that the actor must be aware of a statutory attendant circumstance
STRICT LIABILITY CRIMES
No mens rea required
Usually public welfare offenses
2 defenses:
I didn’t do it; or
No intended to be a strict liability crime (if this then analyze under PRISM)
Analyze using PRISM
P – Punishment (strict liability crimes usually have smaller punishment)
R – Reasonable (is the standard imposed by the statute reasonable?)
I – Intent (intent of the legislature)
S – Stigma (moral stigma attached to the offense?)
M – Malum Prohibitum (the crime is not wrong in and of itself)
