Criminal Law in the U.S (Chap 1)
The core felonies
What are felonies against persons and felonies against property
A retroactive law that does one of three things: criminalizes an act that was not a crime when it was committed, increases the punishment for a crime after the crime was committed, or takes away a defense that was available to a defendant when the crime was committed
What are ex post facto laws
Criminal act (actus reus), criminal intent (mens rea), concurrence, attendant circumstances, and bad result (causing a criminal hard) are all part of this
What are the elements of a crime
Latin for guilty mind, the mental element in crime
What is Mens rea
Circumstances that convince fact-finders that defendants do not deserve the maximum penalty for the crime they are convicted of
What are mitigating circumstances
A private wrong for which you can sue the party who wronged you and recover money
What are torts
The principle that statutes violate due process if they do not define a crime and it's punishment clearly enough for ordinary people to know what is lawful
What is void for vagueness
The requirement that mental attitudes have to turn into actions for a crime to be committed
What is manifest criminality
This causes a person to act
What is a motive
Nonaggressor, necessity, proportionality, and reasonable belief are all elements of this
What is self-defense
The proposed criminal code drafted by the American Law Institute and used to reform criminal codes
What is the Model Penal Code
Obscenity, profanity, libel and slander, fighting words, and clear and present danger are 5 categories not protected by this
What isthe First Amendment
The failure to act when there is a legal duty to act
What are criminal omissions
The only direct evidence of mental attitude
What are confessions
A mental disorder that develops in victims of domestic violence as a result of serious, long-term abuse
What is battered woman's syndrome (BWS)
Violations of federal and state agency rules that make up a controversial but rapidly growing source of criminal law
What are administrative crimes
Punishments that are no longer considered acceptable to a civilized society
What are barbaric punishments
The rule that states that there is no legal duty to rescue or summon help for someone who is in danger, even if the bystander risks nothing by helping
What is the American bystander rule
Purposely, knowingly, recklessly, and negligently are all mental states in this
What are the Model Penal Codes Levels of Culpability
This term describes the area immediately surrounding the home
What is curtilage
The theory of criminal punishment that states that inflicting on offenders physical and psychological pain ("hard treatment") so that they can pay for their crimes
What are retributionists
The punishment must fit the crime
What is the principle of proportionality
Pretending something is a fact when it is not, if there is a "good" reason for the pretense is know as this
What is legal fiction
Some mental fault has to trigger the criminal act in conduct crimes and the cause in result crimes is considered this
What is principle of concurrence
Also called the general defense of necessity, this justifies the choice to commit a lesser crime to avoid the harm of a greater one
What is the choice-of-evils defense