Chapter 1
Wrong against society (State vs. Jenkins)
What is a crime?
14th Amendment: No state shall deny to any person within its jurisdiction the equal protection of the laws.
What is Equal Protection?
Three overall elements of crime
What is actus reus, mens rea, concurrence?
Required mental element of a crime
What is mens rea?
Must prove factual causation and proximate causation.
What is prosecutor's burden for causation?
Inherently evil crimes
What is Malum in se
The highest standard of review used to determine whether a law violates Equal Protection.
What is strict scrutiny?
Two types of criminal omission
What is failure to report and failure to intervene?
the reason behind committing a crime
What is motive?
requires that a guilty act (actus reus) and a guilty mind (mens rea) occur simultaneously for a person to be held criminally liable.
What is principles of concurrence?
What is beyond a reasonable doubt?
Criminalizes an act that was innocent when it was committed.
What is Ex post facto laws?
Having physical control over an item or substance
What is actual possession?
Prosecutor must only prove defendant did the act
What is Prosecutor's burden in strict liability?
establishes a direct, blameworthy link between a defendant's actions (or omissions) and the resulting criminal harm
What is principles of causation?
Type of prevention aimed to reform the offender
What is rehabilitation?
a legal standard used by courts to evaluate the constitutionality of laws or government actions that classify individuals based on certain characteristics, such as gender or legitimacy
What is heightened scrutiny?
The things that have to exist for a failure to report to become a crime
What is a legal duty created by statutes, contracts, or special relationships?
consciously chose to perform a prohibited act, without needing to intend the specific, harmful result. It focuses on the volition of the action itself
What is general intent?
event occurring between a defendant's negligent action and the final injury, potentially breaking the chain of causation
What is intervening cause?
Requirement that party present some evidence to support their claim
What is burden of production?
Vaguely defined laws fail to provide citizens a clear understanding of acceptable and unacceptable behavior.
What is Void for Vagueness Doctrine?
Two aspects of possession in criminal law
What is control of items/substances and awareness of control?
intended to perform a forbidden act but also had a precise, additional goal or desired a particular consequence beyond the act itself, requiring proof of a higher mental state
What is specific intent?
an independent, unforeseeable event that occurs after a defendant's action
What is coincidental intervening acts?