Chapter 1
What are the two core felonies?
Felonies against persons, felonies against property
a retroactive law.
ex post facto laws
five elements of a crime.
A criminal act, criminal intent, concurrence, attendant circumstances, and a bad result causing criminal harm.
Latin for guilty mind
Mens rea
something that causes a person to act
motive
What is a tort?
Noncriminal wrongs
nonverbal actions that communicate ideas and feelings.
expressive conduct
Possession is not an action
a condition
requires a “bad mind” in the actor
Subjective fault
the idea that it’s fair and just to punish only people we can blame
culpability
Punishable by death?
Felony
Eighth Amendment bans...
cruel and unusual punishments
unconscious bodily movements
automatism
the intent to commit the criminal act
General intent
"Is it fair to blame Defendant for the harm triggered by a chain of events her action(s) set in motion?”
legal (“proximate”) cause
criminal law created by city and town councils elected by city residents.
Municipal codes
The principle of legality establishes...
No crime without law, no punishment without law.
Latin for body of the crime
corpus delicti
purposely, knowingly, recklessly, and negligently
four levels of culpability
a defense to criminal liability
mistake of fact
create criminal law by interpreting state and municipal criminal codes.
Criminal court opinions
fails to give fair warning to individuals and law enforcement as to what conduct is lawful
Vague laws
imposes a legal duty to help or call for help for imperiled strangers
"Good Samaritan" doctrine
the presumption that defendants knew the law they were breaking
ignorance maxim
to have to prove beyond a reasonable doubt “every fact necessary to constitute the crime charged”
burden of proof