Chapter 3 Vocab
elements of a crime
the parts of a crime that the prosecution must prove beyond a
reasonable doubt, such as actus reus, mens rea, concurrence, causation, and bad result
culpability (blameworthiness)
the idea that we can only punish people that we can blame, and we can only blame people that are responsible for what they do
insanity
the legal term that refers to a mental disease or defect that impairs the reason and/or will to control actions
complicity
establishes when you can be criminally liable for someone else’s conduct; applies criminal liability to accomplices and accessories
criminal attempts
try but failing to commit crimes
actus reus
the criminal act or the physical element in criminal liability
concurrence
the requirement that a criminal intent has to trigger a criminal act in criminal conduct crimes and that criminal conduct has to cause a bad result in bad result crimes
civil commitment
a noncriminal (civil) proceeding in which courts have the power to
decide if defendants who were insane when they committed their crimes are still insane
vicarious liability
establishes when a party can be criminally liable for someone else’s conduct because of a relationship; transfers the criminal conduct of one party to another because of their relationship
criminal conspiracy
making an agreement to commit a crime
mens rea
the “state of mind” the prosecution has to prove beyond a reasonable doubt;
criminal intent from an evil mind; the mental element in crime, including purpose,
knowledge, recklessness, and negligence
cause in fact
the objective determination that the defendant’s act triggered a chain of events that ended as the harmful result
reason
psychologists call it “cognition”; the capacity to tell right from wrong
agency theory
the idea that we’re autonomous agents with the freedom to choose our actions and become accountable for someone else’s actions when we voluntarily “join in and identify with those actions”
criminal solicitation
trying to get someone else to commit a crime
corpus delicti
(Latin body of the crime). Properly applies to the elements of
criminal conduct (for example, stealing someone’s property in theft) and bad result crimes
(for example, criminal homicide)
legal cause
the subjective judgment that it’s fair and just to blame the defendant for the bad result
will
psychologists call it “volition,” most of us call it “willpower”; in the insanity tests
it refers to a defendant’s power to control their actions
forfeited personal identity theory
the idea that when you choose to participate in
crime, you forfeit your right to be treated as an individual; “your acts are my acts”
inchoate offenses
from the Latin “to begin”; crimes that satisfy the mens rea of
purpose or specific intent and the actus reus of taking some steps toward accomplishing
the criminal purpose—but not enough steps to complete the intended crime
attendant circumstances element
a “circumstance” connected to an act, an intent, and/or
a result required to make an act criminal
mens rea
criminal intent
right-wrong test (McNaughtan Rule
the defendant suffered a defect of reason caused by a disease of the mind, and, consequently, at the time of the act didn’t know what she was doing or that the act was wrong
accomplices
participants before and during the commission of crimes
dangerous act rationale
looks at how close defendants came to completing their
crimes