Criminal Intent

Question 1

Mens Rea

Answer 1

Mens rea refers to a guilty mind or wrongful intent.

Question 2

Concurrence

Answer 2

Concurrence refers to the requirement that the actus reus and mens rea exist at the same time.

Question 3

General Intent

Answer 3

Under common law, general intent refers to the purposeful commission of a prohibited act where the performance of the act is sufficient to establish intent to commit the crime because intent is inferred from the fact that the act was done. Examples of general intent crimes are battery and rape.

Question 4

Specific Intent

Answer 4

Specific intent refers to the purposeful commission of a prohibited act with the aim of producing a particular result. Examples of specific intent crimes are burglary and larceny: for burglary, the specific intent to commit a felony within the dwelling house of another is required to constitute the crime (under common law); for larceny, the specific intent to permanently deprive the owner is required.

Question 5

Transferred Intent Doctrine

Answer 5

The Transferred Intent Doctrine is applicable when a defendant, while in the process of committing a crime against one person, unintentionally commits the crime against a different person or commits a different crime. In such a case, the defendant’s wrongful intent is transferred to include the unintended victim or crime. The Transferred Intent Doctrine applies only to general intent crimes.

Question 6

Intent under the Model Penal Code

Answer 6

Under the MPC, the distinction between general and specific intent has been abandoned, and a person is generally guilty of an offense only if he acted purposefully, knowingly, recklessly or negligently, as the law for a particular crime may require, with respect to each material element of the offense.

Question 7

Purposefully

Answer 7

Under the MPC, “purposefully” means that the defendant acted with the conscious object to do the act or to cause the result of his act, or that the defendant acted while aware or hopeful that the circumstances which led to harm existed.

Question 8

Knowingly

Answer 8

Under the MPC, “knowingly” means that the defendant acted with conscious awareness or substantial certainty that his act would produce its result or that the circumstances which led to harm existed.

Question 9

Recklessly

Answer 9

Under the MPC, “recklessly” means that the defendant acted with conscious disregard of a substantial and unjustifiable risk that his act would result in a crime, such that his disregard involved a gross deviation from the standard of conduct that a law-abiding person would observe in the actor’s situation.

Question 10

Negligently

Answer 10

Under the MPC, “negligently” means that the defendant should have been aware of a substantial and unjustifiable risk that a crime would result from his act. The risk must be of such a nature and degree that the actor’s failure to perceive it, considering the nature and purpose of his conduct and the circumstances known to him, involves a gross deviation from the standard of care that a reasonable person would observe in the actor’s situation.

Question 11

Intent for Inchoate Crimes

Answer 11

Even if the target crime is a general intent crime, the inchoate version will be a specific intent crime (the specific intent to commit the target crime.)