Criminal Law
Bretz
Fall 2011
General Criminal Law
Always Remember:
1) Definitions:
a) Misdemeanor: punishable by a year or less imprisonment
b) Felony: punishable by more than a year imprisonment
c) Malum In se: it’s evil in itself
d) Malum Prohibitum: it’s bad because it’s prohibited
e) Mens Rea: the guilty mind (intent)
i) Men Rea- Culpable state of mind, how evil were they in their mind?
(1) Negligence and recklessness: it is hard to say that people had a particular mens rea when they act reckless or negligently, but they are acting with a particular frame of mind, which is often thought to be without conscience
f) Actus Reus: the guilty act
i) If you do something to another person, which left untreated would lead to their death, then you are responsible (link in the chain of events)
ii) Ex) stab a person in the leg and they bleed to death
2) Two type of Evidence:
a) Circumstantial Evidence: prosecutor encourages jury to infer something
i) Ex) see Bretz walk in with an umbrella, can infer that its raining
b) Direct Evidence: actual evidence
i) Ex) standing outside and see that it’s raining
c) Both types of evidence are equally weighted
1. General crime principles:
a. Accomplice liability
b. Legal duty to act
c. Conspiracy
d. Concurrence doctrine
2. Defenses:
a. Insufficient evidence this is the most common
b. Defense of others
c. Duress, necessity
d. Insanity, diminished capacity.
Theories of Punishment:
1) Bentham
a) Utilitarianism(Betham): make society a safer place
i) Look forward to determine how this punishment will benefit society
ii) Can punish a criminal more harshly to send a message to society
iii) General Deterrence
2) Kant
a) Punishment is the main goal Retributive. Kant looked to the past to determine the punishment you only look at the person and the crime the committed. The punishment should fit the crime.
i) Look back at the act to determine how bad it was and what the appropriate punishment will be.
ii) We punish the criminal because they are bad and deserve to be punished
iii) Specific Deterrence
Homicide:
Common Law Murder
1) Acts every modern society has agreed are crimes
2) Purpose: Social Control
3) Punish Crimes to Protect society
4) Most common law crimes contain the word reasonable as an element of the crime
a) View objectively, not concerned with the individual defendant
b) Dudley & Stephens: doesn’t matter that the defendants were starving and hadn’t eaten in days, the reasonable person would not have done this
5) Common Law Homicide Crimes:
a) CL Murder
b) CL Felony Murder
c) CL Manslaughter
i) Involuntary
ii) Voluntary
6) Common Law Murder
a) Elements:
i) Actus Reus: the killing of another
ii) Mens Rea: Malice
(1) Intend to kill OR
(2) Intend to cause serious bodily injury OR
(3) Depraved Heart:
(a) Consciously disregarding or consciously creating a very high risk of death or serious bodily injury.
(b) If you do anything that any idiot would know could cause death or serious bodily injury then you have satisfied malice (Banks: shooting at a moving train)
(c) EX: walking through a neighborhoods and decide to shoot a window in a home that clearly has people lining in it. Vs Hiking and see and old shack in the middle of the wood which clearly looks abandoned.
7) Common Law Felony Murder:
a) Elements:
i) Actus Reus: the death of another during the commission or attempted commission of a Felony
ii) Mens Rea: Intend to commit a felony
(1) Any death
(2) Caused by the defendant
(3) During the commission or attempted commission of a like endangering felony:
(a)
BARRKS
Burglary
(b) Arson
(c) Robbery
(d) Rape
(e) Kidnapping
(f) Sodomy (no longer a felony)
b) Felony replaces malice: still guilty if cop shoots and kills
c) Felony and murder must be part of the same transaction
d) Continuing Offense Doctrine: Felony continues until the felon reaches a place or temporary safety
8) Manslaughter:
a) Involuntary:
i) An unintentional killing
ii) Elements:
(1) Actus Reus: The killing of another
(2) Mens Rea: did not intend to kill
(a) Gross negligence (recklessness): and extreme departure from a reasonable person standard
(i) Any reasonable person should have known there was a risk of death or serious bodily injury (Hardie): accidentally shot friend with seemingly harmless gun
(ii) Result is involuntary although the act may have been voluntary
b) Voluntary:
i) An intentional Killing
ii) Elements:
(1) Actus Reus: the killing of another
(2) Mens Rea: the intent to kill
(3) Legally adequate Provocation (Heat of Passion)
(a) Sufficient to provoke a reasonable person
(b) Defendant must have actually been provoked
(c) There is no cooling off period
(d) Defendant did not cool off
(4) General Rul
Rea: did not intend to kill
(a) Gross negligence (recklessness): and extreme departure from a reasonable person standard
(i) Any reasonable person should have known there was a risk of death or serious bodily injury (Hardie): accidentally shot friend with seemingly harmless gun
(ii) Result is involuntary although the act may have been voluntary
b) Voluntary:
i) An intentional Killing
ii) Elements:
(1) Actus Reus: the killing of another
(2) Mens Rea: the intent to kill
(3) Legally adequate Provocation (Heat of Passion)
(a) Sufficient to provoke a reasonable person
(b) Defendant must have actually been provoked
(c) There is no cooling off period
(d) Defendant did not cool off
(4) General Rule:
(a) Mere words alone are generally insufficient to form legally adequate provocation unless those words are informational words, which relay a message that if witnessed would be provocation
Model Penal Code: (MPC):
1) General information
a) A model set of criminal laws developed by law professors
b) MPC does not care about the reasonable person standard
c) Focus on individual culpability and is more forgiving than common law
2) Homicide Crimes:
a) Murder (3 types) P, K, R
b) Manslaughter (2 types)
3) Murder:
a) Elements:
i) Any killing of another
ii) Committed:
(1) Purposely:
(a) Consciously engage in a certain conduct to cause a result (intent to kill)
(2) Knowingly: awareness that a certain conduct would product an outcome
(3) Recklessly: Manifesting an extreme disregard for human life (Extremely reckless or reckless plus)
4) Manslaughter:
a) Elements:
i) Any killing of another
ii) Committed:
(1) Recklessly: conscious taking an unjustifiable risk with knowledge that a certain result may occur (Gross Negligence) OR
(2) Under the influence of extreme mental or emotional disturbance for which there is an explanation
(a) Subjective: consider individual factors leading to the mental or emotional state
