Excuses Flashcards
(6 cards)
Duress Generally
Duress is an excuse to human threats (gun to the head).
Requires:
Immediate threat of death or serious bodily injury
Reasonable belief that the threat is serious
No reasonable means of escape
MPC Duress
- It is an affirmative defense that the actor engaged in the conduct charged to consitute an offense because he was COERCED to do so by the use of, or threat to use, UNLAWFUL force against his person or the person of another, that a person of REASONABLE firmness in his situation would have been unable to resist
- The defense provided by this section is UNAVAILABLE if the actor RECKLESSLY placed himself in a situation in which it was PROBABLE that he would be subjected to duress. The defense is also UNAVAILABLE if he was negligent in placing himself in such a situation, whenever negligence suffices to establish culpability for the offense charged.
- It is not a defense that a woman acted on the command of her husband, unless she acted under such coercion as would establish a defense under this Section. [The presumption that a woman acting in the presence of her husband is coerced is abolished.]
- When the conduct of the actor would otherwise be justifiable under Section 3.02, this Section does not preclude such defense
Insanity Common Law Tests
M’Naghten Test:
At the time of the committing of the act, was the party accused laboring under such a defect of reason, from disease of the mind, as
1. not to know the nature and quality of what he was doing; or
2. if he did know it, that he did not know he was doing wrong?
Cognitive Incapacity:
Whether the actor knew the nature and quality of what he was doing
Moral incapacity:
Whether the actor knew that what he was doing what wrong
Irresistible Impulse / Volitional incapacity Test
Whether a person is so lacking in volition due to a mental defect or illness that he could not have controlled his actions
Product of Mental Illness
Whether a person’s action was a product of a mental disease or defect
MPC Mental Disease or Defect Excluding Responsibility
- 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 [wrongfulness] of his conduct or to conform his conduct to the requirements of law.
- As used in this Article, the terms “mental disease or defect” do not include an abnormality manifested only by repeated criminal or otherwise antisocial conduct
TPC 8.01 Insanity
a. It is an affirmative defense to prosecution that, at the time of the conduct charged, the actor, as a result of severe mental disease or defect, did not know that his conduct was wrong
b. The term “mental disease or defect” does not include an abnormality manifested only by repeated criminal or otherwise antisocial conduct
Infancy and Capacity Generally
Two Approaches:
Age Thresholds
Capacity presumed after a certain age.
M’Naghten Test
Some courts apply the test to determine if a minor had the capacity to know what they were doing was wrong.
