Criminal Law: Basics

Front 1

What is the difference between criminal law and civil law?

Back 1

-Consequence (criminal-punishment; civil-compensation)
-Purpose (criminal- protect society; civil- compensate the victim)
-Burden of Proof (criminal- beyond a reasonable doubt; civil- preponderance of evidence)
- Parties (criminal- State v Defendant; civil- Plaintiff v. Defendant)
-Negligence Liability (criminal- more highly significant deviation form socially accepted conduct and a higher degree of unreasonableness; civil- duty of care owed by a reasonable person under the circumstances

Front 2

What is the ‘presumption of innocence’?

Back 2

-Fundamental principle
- Assume the person charged of the crime to be innocent

Front 3

What is reasonable doubt?

Back 3

-prosecution has the burden to prove
-“an actual and substantial doubt of the defendant’s guilt arising from the evidence, or from a want of evidence, as distinguished from a vague apprehension.”
-highest standard of proof
-highlights the American standpoint that our system would prefer that a guilty person go free rather than an innocent person be mistakenly convicted.

Front 4

What is a felony?

Back 4

-one of the most important classifications of crime in the United States (misdemeanors is the other)
-punishable by capital punishment (death) or imprisonment in the state prison (or penitentiary)

Front 5

What is a misdemeanor?

Back 5

-one of the most important classifications of crime in the United States (felony is the other).
-punishable by imprisonment in a local jail or a fine

Front 6

What is an offense mala in se?

Back 6

-offenses that are “inherently evil” or “wrong in themselves”
- every member of society would recognize them as evil
-violate not only laws of man, but also the laws of nature
-dangerous to life and limb
-involving some degree of “moral turpitude”
-robbery
-aggrevated assault
-murder in the first degree

Front 7

What is an offense mala probibita?

Back 7

-offenses that are wrong only because they are prohibited by legislation
-not inherently evil
-only wrong because a given society is seeking to regulate that type of action
-keeping slot machines
-sale of intoxicating liquors
-driving over the speed limit
-hunting without a license
-possession of gambling paraphernalia
-unlawful simply because the law says so
-no actual criminal intent or mens rea is required

Front 8

What is corpus delecti?

Back 8

-the basic elements which must be pleaded and proved by the prosecuting authority to show that a particular crime has been committed by someone.
-means “body of crime”
-must show (1) there has been a specific kind of injury which is prohibited by law, (2) that someone’s criminality caused the injury.
-not necessary to prove who committed a crime
-only necessary to show that a crime occurred

Front 9

What is mens rea?

Back 9

-criminal intent
-the intent to do the forbidden act
-criminal consciously desires the forbidden result

Front 10

What is general mens rea?

Back 10

-a person acts and knows that the forbidden result is practically certain to occur, even though he does not specifically desire it to occur.

Front 11

What is the doctrine of transferred intent?

Back 11

-an accused can be held criminally responsible for his unintended or unforeseeable acts.
-if X intends to shoot Y but misses him and kills Z, X’s intent is transferred from Y to Z and X would be guilty for murdering Z.

Front 12

What is specific mens rea:

Back 12

-certain crimes require a distinctive wrongful state of mind in addition to the intent to do the forbidden act.

Front 13

What are examples of specific mens rea?

Back 13

- the defendant must not only intend to do the prohibited act, but also must intend to bring about some specific result.
- abortion
- assault
-burglary
-extortion
-robbery
-theft

Front 14

What is criminal negligence?

Back 14

- one can be criminally liable for his conduct even if it was done unintentionally
- if one’s acts can be said to constitute “gross lack of care” then they are said to be criminally negligent
- criminal liability is not usually imposed for acts which constitute only “ordinary” negligence.
- Criminal negligence involves a more highly significant deviation from socially accepted conduct and a higher degree of unreasonableness.

Front 15

What is the Model Penal Code classification of culpability requirements?

Back 15

- Criminal liability requires that a person’s actions simply be (1) intentional, (2) knowingly, (3) reckless or (4) negligent with respect to each and every element of the offense.

Front 16

What is a strict liability offense?

Back 16

-did away with the concept of strict liability in criminal law
- many jurisdictions are now permitting an innocent mistake of fact as a defense.