Constitutional Limits (Chapter 2
This principle states that no one can be punished for a crime unless the law defined the crime and prescribed the punishment before the act was committed.
What is the Principle of Legality?
Often called the "evil act," this is the physical element and the first principle of criminal liability.
What is Actus Reus?
Often called the "guilty mind," this is the mental element of a crime.
What is Mens Rea?
In this type of defense, the defendant admits they committed the act but claims it was necessary to prevent a greater evil.
What is a Justification?
These are private wrongs where an individual sues another for money, rather than the state prosecuting for a crime.
What are Torts?
These laws are prohibited by the Constitution because they retroactively punish behavior that was legal when it occurred.
What are Ex Post Facto laws?
Criminal law generally only punishes these types of bodily movements, rather than those made while sleepwalking or during a seizure.
What are Voluntary Acts?
This is the highest level of culpability under the MPC, where it is a person's conscious object to commit a crime or cause a result.
What is Purposely?
This element of self-defense requires that the danger of attack be "right now."
What is the Imminence Requirement?
The standard of proof in criminal cases, which is much higher than the "preponderance of evidence" used in civil cases.
What is Proof Beyond a Reasonable Doubt?
This doctrine mandates that statutes be written clearly enough for an ordinary person to know what is lawful and prevent arbitrary enforcement.
What is the Void-for-Vagueness doctrine?
This occurs when a person fails to act when they have a legal duty to do so, such as a parent failing to feed a child.
What is a Criminal Omission?
A person acts in this manner when they consciously disregard a substantial and unjustifiable risk that their conduct will cause harm.
What is Recklessly?
This rule allows a person to use deadly force in their home to fend off an unprovoked attack without first trying to run away.
What is the Castle Exception?
These are serious crimes punishable by one year or more in prison or death.
What are Felonies?
This rule requires courts to resolve any ambiguity in a criminal statute in favor of the defendant.
What is the Rule of Lenity?
This "legal fiction" exists when banned items are not on a person's body but are in a place they control, like their car or home.
What is Constructive Possession?
This principle requires that the criminal intent (mens rea) must trigger the criminal act (actus reus) at the same time.
What is Concurrence?
Also called the "Necessity" defense, this applies when someone commits a crime to avoid a more serious harm, like driving with a suspended license in a medical emergency.
What is the Choice-of-Evils defense?
This theory of punishment suggests that rational people won't commit crimes if they know the pain of punishment outweighs the pleasure of the act.
What is Deterrence?
The 8th Amendment prohibits these types of punishments, which includes torturing or burning at the stake.
What are Barbaric Punishments?
Under the "One-Voluntary-Act-Is-Enough" rule, this is the requirement that mental attitudes must turn into physical actions for a crime to occur.
What is Manifest Criminality?
These crimes, such as minor traffic violations, do not require any proof of mens rea to result in a conviction.
What are Strict Liability crimes?
This syndrome may serve as a justification when a person believes they cannot leave an abusive situation and kills their abuser.
What is Battered Women's Syndrome?
These behaviors are considered "criminal" only because there is a law against them, rather than being inherently evil (mala in se).
What are Mala Prohibita offenses?