Principles of Punishment
What is LWOP for juveniles?
An individual who commits a homicide when he or she is under 18 may be sentenced to life without parole, but only if the sentence is not mandatory and the sentencer therefore has discretion to impose a lesser punishment by considering mitigating qualities of youth.
What are MPC Statutes?
A unified code that is adopted by a systemic approach to criminal law.
What is the definition of actus reus under the MPC?
Under the MPC, an actus reus is the component of a crime that describes the proscribed physical action, or, in some cases, inaction. A defendant cannot be found criminally liable without either committing a voluntary act or failing to perform an act expressly required by law. Under the MPC, an act is voluntary when it is a bodily movement that is a product of the effort or determination of the actor. Involuntary acts (e.g., reflexes or movements made while the actor is unconscious or asleep) cannot constitute the actus reus.
What is a general-intent crime?
What is a specific-intent crime?
A general-intent crime is one that requires an intent to perform the prohibited act but does not require intent to cause a particular result. Battery is a general-intent crime. Battery requires a state of mind to intentionally touch a victim but does not require an intent to injure the victim.
A specific-intent crime requires an intent to perform the prohibited act, combined with an intent to bring about the prohibited result. Aggravated battery is a specific-intent crime. Aggravated battery requires both an intent to touch a person and an intent to cause serious bodily injury. Crimes are either specific-intent crimes or general-intent crimes.
What two types of causation must be present for a defendant to be found guilty of a crime that requires a particular result?
Actual cause & proximate cause
What is capital punishment?
Punishment of death imposed by the government for a serious crime.
What to do if a statute is vague?
If a statute is vague, it must be interpreted through the constitution. If it isn’t defined there, then it must be defined through a well-respected dictionary. Vague law is no law.
What is an omission?
An omission is a failure to act. Generally, a defendant may not be held liable for an offense based on an omission unless the defendant had some duty to act. Legal duties are often imposed by statute or contract. Further, a defendant may incur a legal duty to take reasonable steps to aid or protect a person if:
the defendant shares a special relationship with the person (e.g., a parent-child relationship),
the defendant created the circumstances giving rise to the person’s peril,
the defendant voluntarily offered assistance to the person in a manner that prevented others from offering aid, or
the defendant is a landowner.
What are the four criminally culpable mental states under the MPC, in descending order of severity & what is needed to meet these elements?
The four culpable mental states under the MPC, in descending order of severity, are:
Purpose,knowledge,recklessness, and negligence.
If a statute does not specify the required mental state for the crime, then the defendant must have at least acted recklessly in order to be found guilty. In addition, if a defendant acts with a higher degree of culpability than a statute requires, then the mental state element is satisfied.
What is the cause-in-fact element of causation?
Requires the government to prove that, but for the actions of the defendant, the results would not have happened when it happened
What is the Retributive Theory of Punishment?
Give people what they deserve; just deserts; equal worth of all humans; Doesn’t just look at injuries to victims and society, but also groups that may suffer special harm from individual crimes; punishment is the only answer
What are Common Law Statutes?
Jurisdictions are codified; the crimes that were previously created by judges through decisions in individual cases
Is possession an act that can satisfy the actus reus requirement for a crime? (MPC)
Yes. Possession is an act that can satisfy the actus reus requirement for a crime if the defendant was aware of the possession and had the opportunity to terminate the possession. The actus reus and mens rea must exist at the same time for criminal culpability.
What is the 2 part test of willful blindness?
1) D must subjectively believe that there is a high probability that the facts exist
2) D must take deliberate action to avoid learning of the facts
What is proximate cause?
Proximate cause is the legal cause of a result. A defendant’s actions are a proximate cause if the result is a natural and probable consequence of those actions. In order to be criminally liable, a defendant’s conduct must be both the actual cause and the proximate cause of the result. A victim’s preexisting condition that exacerbates the harm caused by the defendant’s conduct will not break the causal chain to the defendant. This is true whether or not the defendant knew of the condition before acting.
What is the Deterrence Theory of Punishment (Utilitarian)?
Defendant will avoid future crimes because he or she fears additional punishment; to deter from committing future criminal conduct
What is the set of statutory interpretation techniques?
Consider the statute’s plain language
Consider legislative intent of the statute
Consider Canons of Construction
Consider Legislative history of the statute
Is status or condition an actus reus requirement for a crime?
No, a law which made a criminal offense of such a disease would be universally thought to be an infliction of cruel and unusual punishment in violation of the Eighth and Fourteenth Amendments.
In the context of criminal law, what is the definition of strict liability?
If a criminal statute does not specify a required mens rea (or culpability), under what circumstances is a federal court likely to construe the statute to impose strict liability?
1)In the context of criminal law, strict liability is criminal liability imposed on a defendant without any showing of mens rea, or culpability. For a strict liability crime, merely committing the actus reus is enough for criminal liability to attach, even if the defendant honestly and justifiably believes that he is engaging in a legal act. Statutory rape laws are a well-known example as most impose liability with no proof of fault as to the defendant’s knowledge of the victim’s age.
2) If a criminal statute does not specify a required mens rea, or culpability, federal courts are most likely to construe the statute to require strict liability when:
the offense is a regulatory or public-welfare offense, as opposed to an offense that is inherently immoral or evil;
it does not criminalize a broad range of conduct; and
it imposes only a modest penalty.
What does accelerating a result requires proof of?
Requires specific proof of when the victim would have died, to establish the liability of the first defendant, and then how the second defendant's conduct caused the otherwise inevitable death to occur earlier
What are aggravating and mitigating factors of capital punishment?
Murder of peace officer on duty
Murder of any person occurring at a correctional facility
Intentional murder of a person involving infliction of torture
Whether victim induced or facilitated it
Was under duress, coercion, or strong provocation
Lacked substantial capacity to appreciate criminality of conduct
What are the component parts of a statute?
RCW 9A.36.011
Assault in the first degree
A person is guilty of assault in the first degree if he or she, with intent to inflict great bodily harm:
Assaults another with a firearm or any deadly weapon or by any force or means likely to produce great bodily harm or death; or
Transmits HIV to a child or vulnerable adults; or
Administers, exposes, or transmits to or causes to be taken by another, poison or any other destructive or noxious substance; or
Assaults another and inflicts great bodily harm.
What are the elements of a crime?
Actus reus - act
Mens rea - mental state
Causation - proximate cause and cause in fact
Attendant circumstances – an element of the crime that is a condition that must be present at the time of the defendant’s action or an in-action that contributes to the determination that the act is deemed a crime
What is a mistake of fact?
A mistake of fact occurs if a criminal defendant misunderstood some fact that negates an element of the offense. If the mistake of fact negates the mens rea for the offense, the mistake may be a defense to the charge. For example, if an individual is charged with larceny but believed that the property he took was rightfully his, this misunderstanding negates any intent to deprive another of the property. Most jurisdictions require that the mistake be a reasonable one, but some jurisdictions allow even an unreasonable mistake as a defense to specific-intent crimes. The MPC allows the defense for both reasonable and unreasonable mistakes.
Explain independent vs dependent intervening causes in causation
An independent cause: a defendant may be relieved of criminal liability for a victims death if an independent intervening cause has occurred, meaning an act of an independent person or entity that destroys the causal connection between the defendant act and the victims injury and thereby becomes the cause of the victims injury
Dependent cause: if an intervening cause is a normal and reasonably foreseeable result of the defendant's original act the intervening act is dependent