Criminal Law Outline

Criminal Law Diehm Spring 2016
Criminalization, Definition, and Classification
Classification
Distinguishing a felony from a misdemeanor
1. The type of institution in which the offender may be incarcerated
2. The length of term which may be imposed
Felonies
Punishable by more than one year
Misdemeanors
Generally punishable by a year or less
Other
Infamous v. non-infamous
Capital v. non-capital
Criminal v. civil matters
Notice Requirement for Criminal Activity
Vagueness may invalid criminal law for two independent reasons
1. it may fail to provide the kind of notice that will enable ordinary people to understand what conduct it prohibits
2. it may authorize and even encourage arbitrary and discriminatory enforcement 
Law fails to meet the requirements of the Due Process Clause if it is so vague and standardless that it leaves the public uncertain as to the conduct it prohibits 
Prosecution’s Burden
Beyond a reasonable doubt
Concurrence of four ingredients of criminal responsibility
1. A voluntary act by the defendant
2. The social harm specified in the definition of the offense
3. The defendant’s mens rea, and
4. An actual and proximate causal connection between elements 1 and 2
 
 
 
Imputability
Necessity of an Act
Actus Reus
Need the act + intent to commit the crime
Overt act of putting the intent into effect is required
Guilty mind is not a crime
What Constitutes an Act?
Look to surrounding circumstances
Could be negligence, possession
Mere presence is not enough to constitute an act, but forms of encouragement may rise to the level of an act
Attempt
Elements
1. Intent to commit the offense
Intent with present capacity + failure to do it
2. Taking a substantial step towards the commission of the offense
Mere preparation is not enough
A person is guilty of an attempt to commit a crime, if acting with the kind of culpability otherwise required for commission of the crime, he purposely does or omits to do anything which, under the circumstances as he believes them to be, is an act or omission constituting a substantial step in a course of conduct planned to culminate in his commission of the crime
Impossibility
A defendant cannot be convicted of a crime under this doctrine unless he could have been convicted of the crime itself if his attempt had been successful
Legal impossibility
Occurs when the action which the defendant performs or sets in motion, if fully carried out, would not constitute a crime
The accused may not be convicted of an attempt
Defendant carries out his intentions, but it still does not constitute a crime
Attempting to do what is not a crime is not a crime
Factual impossibility
Occurs when the objective of the defendant is proscribed by the criminal law, but a circumstances unknown to the actor prevent him from bringing about that objective
The accused may be convicted of an attempt
Circumstances prevent defendant from carrying out his intended action, but the intended action would be a crime and defendant could be convicted of an attempted crime
Solicitation
May be an offense, even if the person does not follow through with committing the offense
Policy: Society does not want people running around and soliciting others to commit crimes
By itself, Solicitation is not an attempt
 
Abandonment
Possible when the defendant is clear that he has withdrawn the support of his crime
Can avoid criminal responsibility if it is expressly communicated
Can only abandon an offensive if it has not been completed
Voluntarily abandon an offense all the way up until the time that the crime is completed
Cannot abandon a complete offense
Example: If defendant has already attempted arson by lighting the fuse and putting the fuse out, it does not constitute abandonment because the crime has already been completed
Prosecutors and juries are unlikely to convict where the defendant took action to undo the attempted crime
Policy: court wants to encourage people to rethink their actions
One who has counseled or commanded another to commit a crime may withdraw before the act is done and avoid criminal responsibility by communication of his withdrawal to the party who is to commit the crime
Once an intent to commit a crime has been formed and overt acts towards the commission of that crime have been committed by the defendant, he is then guilty of attempt and this cannot be abandoned because attempt is considered a completed offense
Negative Acts
Legal duty of care
Statute imposes a duty of care
Relationship status to another
Contractual duty to care for another
Voluntarily assumed the care of another
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