Basics
If civil cases are between two persons; a criminal case is between a person (the defendant) and...
What is the State?
This is the first element of almost every crime.
What is the actus reus (criminal act)?
Of the two most common types of crime this is the less serious.
What is a misdemeanor?
The burden of proof in all criminal cases.
This is the crime that DeSean McCarty was charged with because a police officer died while he was evading arrest.
What is felony murder?
One way a person could end up with two criminal trials for the same crime is violating both state laws and these:
What are federal laws?
Fancy latin term for the criminal mind element.
What is mens rea?
What is more than a year?
This side bears the "burden of proof" in most cases.
What is the state/prosecution?
According to the MPC one does not fulfil the actus reus element if the act is not:
What is voluntary?
True or false: what is a crime in one U.S. state is a crime in every state.
False.
The legal term for the bad result that must be part of every crime...well mostly.
What is harm?
This is the type of crime that can lead to the death penalty.
Defenses that must be proved by the defendant are known as this:
What are affirmative defenses?
The crime of not acting when one has a duty to act is known as:
What is criminal omission?
This is the standard criminal code that some states have somewhat adopted (but not all, and most only partially).
What is the Model Penal Code (MPC)?
Legal jargon for the connection between the criminal act and the harm.
What is causation? I will probably accept liability as well.
A type of crime where the act and the harm are all that is required (no mental act).
What is strict liability crime?
The self-defense doctrine that one can kill or injure another in the defense of one's home and property is known as this:
What is the Castle Rule (or Doctrine)?
This "status" is still one that can cause your actions to be criminal in US law. ex. no one in this class (but me) can drink alcohol legally)
What is age?
This is a type of criminal trial where the defendant asked that there be no jury.
What is a bench trial?
Latin for the "body of the crime" or all the elements put together that must be proved.
What is the "corpus delicti?"
Another fancy legal term for a crime that is not completed.
What is an inchoate crime?
This rare defense can absolve someone completely from a crime because the accused had literally no choice but to commit the act and cause the harm.
What is the necessity defense?
She was eventually murdered over a few hours while 30+ of her neighbors watched and listened.
Who was Kitty Genovese?