Criminal Outline
Friday, October 07, 2011
11:06 AM
I. The Purposes of Criminal Law
a. Case Study
i. Regina v. Dudley
1. Necessity Defense – criminal law must enforce against “moral” duty to refrain from killing another human, even if it seems necessary
II. Purposes of Punishment
o Criminal Law is a method of social control through punishment
Social Condemnation
Retribution – Criminals should suffer in some way for their detriment to society
Rehabilitation – Transform the criminal into a valuable member of society
Deterrence – Impose a penalty that would discourage offenders from criminal behavior
1. Individual – Aimed to deter a specific offender themself from future crime
2. General – suffering of one criminal will deter others from future crimes
Incapacitation/Restraint – keeps society protected by keeping criminal away from them
Restitution – Repairs any harm inflicted by the criminal. “Victim-Oriented”
Education – When society knows the difference b/w right and wrong, most will observe
o ACTUS REAS
a. The Act Requirement – ACTUS REUS
There must be a VOLUNTARY “act” or “omission” where a duty to act exists
§ Martin v. State
Mere thoughts are never punishable as crimes
a. MPC 2.01 – Voluntariness of an Act
· Criminal offense must have a voluntary act
§NOT Voluntary:
i. Reflex or Convulsion
ii. Sleep or unconsciousness
iii. Hypnosis
iv. Other conduct that is not of the effort or determination of actor
b. Possession – Voluntary act can included possession of an item
· If a possessor knowingly procures or receives the thing possessed
· Was aware of his control for a sufficient period of time to be able to terminate possession
c. “Involuntary Act” – a defense if evidence shows movement wasn’t the product of the actor's will
· Sometimes granted for symptoms of unconscious behavior caused by concussions or gunshots but must be proven by sufficient medical evidence
d. Status Crime –
b. OMMISSION – The term “act” for voluntary act is defined to include an “OMMISSION to act”
General rule is that there is NO LEGAL DUTY to act in order to prevent harm to another
Law does no impose liability for MORAL duties
MPC
§ Liability cannot be based on an omission UNLESS there is a LEGAL duty to ACT:
i. Statutory Duty – statue says you have a legal duty to act
ii. Other factors create a legal duty
i. Special Relationship – blood or dependency exists (Spouse, Children, Employee)
ii. Contract – implied or express (Doctor and Patient, Babysitters)
iii. Creation of Risk – must render aid if you caused harm or risk of harm
iv. Voluntary Assistance/Undertaking – if you begin rendering aid you can create a duty to continue. Your aid could dissuade others from helping and you cannot leaver person in worse off condition
Duty to Rescue – although not recognized at common law, some states have imposed statutory duty to provide assistance at the scene of an emergency
**A doctor has no duty to continue treatment or life support once it has become futile or useless in their qualified medical opinion
· A parent cannot substitute prayer for medical care if the lack of medical attention places their child in danger
MENS REA
Levels of Criminal INTENT
· Mens Rea is the “mental state” of a person and the associated blameworthiness in criminal culpability. The prosecution has to show that actor had this state of mind while committing the crime to convict.
· Common Law
CL definitions of Mens Rea
Knowingly – sometimes knowledge of a material fact or circumstance is a required element
Negligently – gross deviation from the standard of “reasonable person” that is a substantial and unjustifiable risk of causing social harm
sly”
§ Cannot infer a standard of negligence
· If the law defining the offense prescribes the kind of culpability sufficient for the commission of an offense but does not distinguish between elements of the crime, then that mens rea applies to each individual element of the crime
· When a law assigns one mens rea to establish an element, then higher culpabilities are also sufficient
§ Negligence – Also established if person acts Purposely, Knowingly, or Recklessly
§ Recklessly – Knowingly, Purposefully
§ Knowingly – Purposefully
· “Knowledge” can be established if a person is aware of a “high probability of existence” unless they actually believe it does not exist
· You do not have to be aware of particular elements of each crime to be guilty of them
· It is important to realize that each jurisdiction has great VARIATION in the definition of each mens rea term – know the precise meaning for each term in your jurisdiction
Strict Liability
o NO “mens rea” component, proof of “actus reus” is sufficient to convict
All you need is the ACTUS REUS
o Staples v. US (pg.87) and notes/hypos – helps with statutory interpretation in SL sense
A man is convicted under a statute that makes is punishable for up to 10 years in prison if a person “possesses any firearm that is not properly registered and is a machine gun”
He claims he had no idea it was automatic and have never shot it
The statute clearly makes no references to Mens Rea so reading it at its face would make this a possession of a machine gun a strict liability crime
The court uses STATUTORY INTERPRETATION to determine that the legislatures couldn’t have possibly meant this to be a SL crime and reads a “knowingly” mens rea into the machine gun aspect of the crime
§ “It is unthinkable that Congress intended to subject such a law-abiding citizen to a possible 10 year imprisonment for having what he genuinely believ4ed to be a conventional semi-automatic weapon but it turns out to have been secretly turned automatic
§ Court also cites that the high sentence possibility indicates that they did not INTEND it to be strict liability
· Most SL crimes have relatively low possible sentences and punishments – not much time, just fines
· Statutory rape is the exception
