Exam 2 - Textbook Terms Chapters 10

Question 1

_________ - The physical act of committing a crime.

Answer 1

actus reus (“ guilty act”)

Question 2

_________ - A defense in which the defendant bears the burden of proof in a trial, such as a legal finding of insanity in most jurisdictions.

Answer 2

affirmative defense

Question 3

_________ - A definition of insanity proposed by the American Law Institute (ALI): “A person is not responsible for criminal conduct if at the time of such conduct, as a result of mental disease or defect, he lacks substantial capacity either to appreciate the criminality of his conduct or to conform his conduct to the requirements of the law.”

Answer 3

ALI standard

Question 4

clinical psychologists and psychiatrists -Experts in the study and treatment of various forms of psychological _________ and _________

Answer 4

• dysfunction

- mental illness.

Question 5

_________- An insanity test that emphasizes knowing and understanding whether one’s actions are right or wrong.

Answer 5

cognitive test

Question 6

_________ - A perspective on punishment that suggests that an individual offender should be punished so that he or she learns that committing a crime leads to punishment

Answer 6

deterrence

Question 7

_________ - The idea is that instilling fear of punishment in people will prevent future criminal acts.

Answer 7

general deterrence

Question 8

_________ - An insanity standard under which the defendant is not held criminally liable if the crime was caused by a mental illness.

Answer 8

Durham standard (or product test)

Question 9

_________ - The highest charge of homicide, requiring that the perpetrator engaged knowingly in the premeditated killing of another human being.

Answer 9

first-degree murder

Question 10

_________ - A perspective on punishment that suggests that an individual offender should be punished so that other similarly situated individuals will vicariously learn that such actions lead to punishment. The idea is that instilling fear of punishment in people will prevent future criminal acts.

Answer 10

general deterrence

Question 11

_________ - An alternative verdict in which the defendant is found guilty of the crime and sentenced to prison, but with the requirement that the defendant receive treatment for his or her mental health problems.

Answer 11

guilty but mentally ill (GBMI)

Question 12

_________ - A legal concept referring to a criminal’s state of mind at the time the crime was committed. It requires that, due to a mental illness, a defendant lacks moral responsibility and culpability for the crime and therefore should not be punished.

Answer 12

insanity

Question 13

_________ - A 1984 federal law passed after the Hinckley trial, requiring that there be a presumption of sanity and that defendants prove “by clear and convincing evidence” that they were insane at the time of the crime.

Answer 13

Insanity Defense Reform Act (IDRA)

Question 14

_________ - An insanity defense based on the defendant’s inability to control his or her behavior at the time of the offense, even if the defendant may have known the act was wrong.

Answer 14

irresistible impulse

Question 15

_________ - An awareness of the wrongfulness of one’s criminal conduct. In modern times, the term has come to refer to blameworthiness in a general sense and, more specifically, to various legally specified mental states (e.g., premeditation) necessary to commit certain crimes.

Answer 15

mens rea (“ guilty mind”)

Question 16

_________ - A test that attempts to assess whether a defendant’s crimes were influenced by a significant mental disorder.

Answer 16

Mental State at the Time of Offense Screening Evaluation (MSE)

Question 17

_________ - The most common insanity standard in the United States. It consists of three components: (1) a presumption that defendants are sane and responsible for their crime; (2) a requirement that, at the moment of the crime, the accused must have been laboring “under a defect of reason, from disease of the mind”; and (3) a requirement that the defendant “did not know the nature and quality of the act he was doing,” or (4) “if he did know it, that he did not know what he was doing was wrong.”

Answer 17

M’Naghten rule

Question 18

M’Naghten rule - The most common insanity standard in the United States. It consists of three components: (1) a presumption that defendants are _________ and responsible for their crime; (2) a requirement that, at the moment of the crime, the accused must have been laboring “under a _________ of reason, from disease of the mind”; and (3) a requirement that the defendant “did not know the _________ and quality of the act he was doing,” or (4) “if he did know it, that he did not know what he was doing was _________.”

Answer 18

• sane
• defect
• nature
• wrong

Question 19

_________ - A legal approach intending to show a link between brain abnormalities and an individual’s illegal behavior.

Answer 19

neurolaw

Question 20

_________ - A defense that suggests that the defendant, because of his or her insanity, should not be held criminally responsible.

Answer 20

not guilty by reason of insanity (NGRI)

Question 21

_________ - A test of the irresistible impulse insanity defense, requiring that the defendant’s impulse had to be so overwhelming that he or she would have committed the act even if a police officer had been standing beside the defendant at the time of the crime.

Answer 21

policeman at the elbow test

Question 22

policeman at the elbow test - A test of the irresistible impulse insanity defense, requiring that the defendant’s impulse had to be so overwhelming that he or she would have committed the act even if a _________ had been standing beside the defendant at the time of the crime.

Answer 22

police officer

Question 23

_________ - A perspective on punishment that suggests that punishment for a crime should be proportionate to the harm caused. It is intended to make the harmed party feel that justice has been served by punishing the perpetrator.

Answer 23

retribution (or just deserts)

Question 24

_________ - A forensic assessment instrument that attempts to translate the legal standards of insanity into components such as the ability to control one’s thoughts and the ability to control one’s behavior.

Answer 24

Rogers Criminal Responsibility Assessment Scales (R-CRAS)

Question 25

_________ - A charge of homicide that requires a lesser intent to kill than first-degree murder.

Answer 25

second-degree murder (or manslaughter)

Question 26

_________ - A perspective on punishment that suggests that an individual offender should be punished so that he or she learns that committing a crime leads to punishment. The idea is that instilling fear of punishment in people will prevent future criminal acts.

Answer 26

specific deterrence

Question 27

_________ - A defendant’s ability to control his or her behavior at the time of the offense.

Answer 27

volitional capacity

Question 28

_________ - test Used historically to determine whether a person is insane, it defines insanity as a mental deficiency in “understanding and memory” and asks whether a defendant acted like a “wild beast.”

Answer 28

wild beast