What is a crime?
Anything society deems unlawful
Designed to Maintain order
Threat of punishment
Imposition and prohibition laws
i. Must do and must not do
Principle of proportionality
2 types of crime
i. Malum in se
1. Crimes b/c behavior is wrong in and of itself
2. Felonies
ii. Malum prohibitum
1. Crime b/c we say it is
a. Ordinances i.e. curfew
Sources of Law
i. Common law
1. American common law is based on British common law
2. Judge-made law based on their opinions from cases
a. This wasn’t very fair-publicity
3. Judges now interpret the law
ii. The model penal code
1. Designed to be the perfect universal code
2. No binding on courts
3. Important b/c guidance in the court
Utilitarian theory—Benthem
When we impose a punishment it must benefit society
The good he can do in class by contributing is greater than not having him here
A societal benefit would be to ask him to participate
Retribution-Kant
Punishment for punishment sake
The “punishment to fit the crime”
Not absolute harsh
4 goal of punishment
Incapacitation-jail, must go to some place-rehab etc
Deterrence
i. Individual/specific
ii. General-in order to make others not do this
Retribution-punishment b/c its deserved
Rehabilitation-fix the offender
Every crime must have
An Actus Reus
i. The guilty act
AND a Mens Rea
i. Guilty mind
1. Actus Reus + Mens Rea in concurrence = A Crime—generally
Definition of Homicide
“the unlawful killing of another hman being with malice aforethought”
i. The Actus Reus
1. Unlawful killing
a. Someone must actually die
b. The person charged must have caused the death
i. Good Samaritan laws? Are they criminal?
ii. The Mens Rea
1. Malice aforethought
CL Murder – (Spec Int)
No degrees of CL murder
The unlawful killing of a human being by another human being with malice aforethought, can be:
i. Intent to kill
ii. Intent to do GBH
iii. Extreme disregard/Depraved heart – D knows of great risk to life and takes it anyway
Modern 1st Degree Murder – (Spec Int)
Definition
i. The unlawful killing of another that’s willful, premeditated, and deliberate
1. Willful – intentional
2. Premeditated – thought about beforehand
3. Deliberate – weighed the pros and cons
a. Poisoning
b. Lying in Wait
c. Felony Murder
Model Penal Code Murder –
The actor unjustifiably, inexcusably, and in the absence of mitigating circumstances, kills another, either:
i. Purposely – D’s conscious objective was to cause death; or
ii. Knowingly – D was aware that his conduct would almost certainly cause death
iii. Recklessly – D consciously disregarded a substantial & unjustifiable risk that death would result from D’s conduct, under circumstances manifesting extreme indifference to human life.
iv. c.
CL Voluntary Manslaughter – (SI)
The intent to kill, but in the heat of passion without malice aforethought
Heat of Passion:
i. Adequate Provocation – a reasonable person would have lost control
ii. No cooling off period
“Rule of Provocation”
i. There must have been adequate provocation;
ii. The killing must have been in the heat of passion;
iii. The killing must have been in the sudden heat of passion before there was a reasonable period to cool off;
iv. There m
eat risk to life, ignores the risk, and acts anyway. A gross departure from what a reasonable person would do under the circumstances.
Misdemeanor Manslaughter –
i. a death during the commission of attempted commission of a Malum in se misdemeanor
Model Penal Code Negligent Homicide
The death of another caused by negligence. Can be either:
D should have been aware that his conduct would result in a substantial & unjustifiable risk of death; or
Was a gross deviation from the level of standard care of a reasonable person in actor’s situation
19. CL Rape – (Gen Int)
a. Elements:
i. Vaginal penetration
ii. By a man,
iii. Against a woman not his wife
iv. By force – either actual or threat of death or GBH
v. Against her will – usually women had to resist even to the point of death
20. Statutory Rape
a. A felony in the first degree
b. Consent is never a defense
c. Elements
i. Sexual intercourse with an underage person
ii. By force/threat of force
iii. That would prevent resistance by a reasonable person
iv. Who is unconscious or unaware of the sexual intercourse
v. Or where the person has substantially impaired the vic’s power to control her conduct
vi. Or suffers from a mental disability rendering her incapable of consent
21. Second degree Rape
a. By force and against her will
22. Sexual Assault
a. Second degree felony
b. Engages in sexual intercourse with out consent
