ELEMENTS OF A CRIMINAL OFFENSE Flashcards
ACTUS REUS
physical part of the crime
volitional act: must be a willed muscular action
generally not duty to act
Martin v. State
not volitional act- cops took him on the highway drunk
When is there a duty to act?
- special relationships
- duty imposed by contract
- statutorily created duties
- when person creates a risk of harm to another
People v. Beardsley
mistress died of overdoes
no obligation because no special realtioship and not incolved in creating peril wiht morphine
result crime
tangible harm
conduct crime
social harm doesnt always have a tangible result
attendant circumstance
fact or conditjion that exists at the time of conduct or result
Mens rea
guilty mind: intent, mental state of actor when committing crime
four mens rea
purposely: actors concious object to cause the result or perform the act
knowingly: actor is aware that the result is virtually certain to occur (for conduct crime actor is aware of conduct)
recklessly: actor conciously takes a substantial and unjustifable risk in causing a particular resutl
neglgiently: actor inadvertently creates a substantial and unjustifiable risk for which he ought to be aware
- gross deviation from standard of care - higher degree of neg than in civil context
knowingly and willful blindness doctrine
willful blindness is a mechanism to impute knowledge to defendant who is delbierately shielding himself from knowledge of an attendant circumstance
mpc
- defendant must subjectively believe there is a high probabily that the fact exists
- must take deliberate actions to avoid learning of the fact
State v. Nations
failed to prove that she knew girl was underage
strict liability offenses
only actus reus needs to be satisfied
public welfare offenses: environmental violations; food and drug law violations; traffic offenses such as speeding; stat rape
malum prohibitum: conduct not necessarily morally wrong but nevertheless could impact health and safety
specific intent crime
requires special mental element in addition to mental state required for the crime “with intent to”
mistake of fact doesn’t have to be reasonable, just honest
General Intent crimes
only have one mental state and relates solely to social harm of crime ex: battery– intentional unprivileged ophysical contact upon another
mistake needs to be REASONABLE and GENUINE
People v Navarro
stealing beams
ok if unreasonable belief
