Punishment philosophy that attempts to reform the offender through education, work, or other appropriate treatment modalities.
Rehabilitation
100
A crime that is less serious than a felony and that is punishable by a fine, probation, or short confinement in a jail.
Misdemeanor
100
A wrongful deed that, if combined with the other elements of a crime, may result in the legal arrest, trial, and conviction of the accused.
Actus reus
100
In general, for an act to be a crime in the U.S. criminal justice system, four elements must be present:
a criminal act, a criminal state of mind, concurrence of a criminal act and a criminal state of mind, and causation.
200
A serious offense such as murder, armed robbery, or rape. Punishments for felonies range from one year of imprisonment to death.
Felony
200
Literally, “let the decision stand.”
Stare decisis
200
Criminal intent, the guilty or evil mind required for criminal liability.
Mens rea
200
The body or other material substance of a crime that constitutes the foundation of that particular crime.
Corpus delicti
300
A punishment philosophy that assumes that behavior may be controlled and criminal behavior prevented by the threat of punishment.
Deterrence
300
Punishment that is prohibited by the Eighth Amendment of the U.S. Constitution. Examples are torture, excessively long sentences, and the death penalty for rape of an adult woman without homicide. State constitutions may also prohibit cruel and (or) unusual punishment.
Cruel and unusual punishment
300
The why or reason for a defendant’s actions.
Motive
300
An act that a reasonable person would not do or the failure to do something that a reasonable person would do under the same or similar circumstances.
Negligence
400
A law that provides punishment for an act that was not defined as a crime when the act was committed or that increases the penalty for a crime committed prior to the enactment of the statute.
Ex post facto laws
400
Law that defines crimes and their punishments.
Substantive law
400
An act that occurs after an alleged criminal act and the resulting injury; may be considered the legal cause, or at least a contributing cause, of the harm. sensitization, dissociation, coming out, commitment
Intervening act
400
Being guilty or at fault through action or inaction. Four criteria may be used to determine ________: intention, knowledge, negligence, and recklessness.
Culpability
500
A government official whose duty is to initiate and maintain criminal proceedings on behalf of the government against persons accused of committing crimes.
Prosecutor
500
Law that originates with the legislature in a written enactment.
Statutory law
500
Common law rule requiring that for a murder charge, death of the victim must occur within one year and one day from the time the alleged crime was committed. With advances in medical science, many jurisdictions have extended or abolished this rule.
Year-and-a-day rule
500
Liability without fault; criminal culpability is imposed in some situations even though no fault or evil intent can be shown on the part of the accused essentially it is not necessary to prove criminal intent.