Elements of a Crime
What is the physical element of a crime?
Actus reus.
What are the voluntary bodily movements involved in a crime called?
Criminal acts.
What is the reason a defendant commits a crime called?
Motive.
What type of cause asks whether the result would have happened without the defendant's conduct?
But-for cause.
What does culpability mean?
Blameworthiness.
What is the mental element of a crime called?
Mens rea.
What is a failure to act when there is a legal duty to do so called?
A criminal omission.
What mental state involves consciously creating a substantial and unjustifiable risk?
Recklessness.
What is the objective determination that the defendant's act triggered events leading to harm called?
Cause in fact.
What is the intent to commit the actus reus called?
General intent.
What is the requirement that criminal intent and a criminal act occur together?
Concurrence.
What type of possession means an item is physically on the person?
Actual possession.
What mental state involves unconsciously creating a substantial and unjustifiable risk?
Negligence.
What is a cause that interrupts or substantially contributes to a chain of events called?
An intervening cause.
According to the glossary, what is the most blameworthy mental state?
Purpose.
What Latin term means the body of the crime?
Corpus delicti.
What is legal possession or custody of an item called?
Constructive possession.
What type of liability requires neither subjective nor objective fault?
Strict liability.
What kind of cause breaks the natural sequence between an initial cause and an outcome?
A superseding cause.
What is the requirement that intentions must turn into criminal deeds before punishment called?
Manifest criminality.
What are the parts of a crime that the prosecution must prove beyond a reasonable doubt called?
The elements of a crime.
Under the American bystander rule, is a person generally legally required to rescue a stranger?
No. Generally, there is no legal duty to rescue a stranger.
What type of intent involves intending to do something beyond the actus reus?
Specific intent.
What type of cause considers whether it is fair and just to blame the defendant for the harmful result?
Legal cause.
What defense argues that a mistake creates reasonable doubt about whether a required mental element existed?
Failure-of-proof defense.