Capstone & Final Review:
The Criminal Law Machine

1. Retribution

The “eye for an eye” theory. Punishment is a moral desert. We punish because the defendant deserves it.

2. Deterrence

Specific Deterrence: Preventing this defendant from committing future crimes.

General Deterrence: Making an example of the defendant to prevent society from committing crimes.

3. Incapacitation

Removing the dangerous actor from society, usually through prison, so they physically cannot cause more harm.

4. Rehabilitation

Using the justice system to reform the offender into a productive member of society.

1. Actus Reus — The Physical Act

A crime requires a voluntary physical act.

The Voluntariness Requirement: Reflexes, convulsions, or acts performed while unconscious, such as sleepwalking, generally do not satisfy this requirement.

Omissions as Acts

Generally, there is no “Good Samaritan” duty to act. However, a failure to act, or omission, can be an actus reus if a legal duty exists:

• Statutory Duty: For example, filing taxes.
• Contractual Duty: For example, a lifeguard or nurse.
• Status Relationship: For example, parent to child.
• Assumption of Care: If you start helping someone and prevent others from helping, you now have a duty.
• Creation of Peril: If you accidentally cause a dangerous situation, you have a duty to mitigate it.

2. Mens Rea — The Mental State

This is the “engine oil” of the crime. Under the Model Penal Code, or MPC, there are four distinct levels of culpability:

• Purposefully: The defendant’s conscious object is to engage in the conduct or cause the result. This is the “Target” mindset.
• Knowingly: The defendant is aware that the result is “practically certain” to occur.
• Recklessly: The defendant consciously disregards a substantial and unjustifiable risk.
• Negligently: The defendant should have been aware of a substantial and unjustifiable risk.

The Strict Liability Bypass: Some crimes, like statutory rape or speeding, do not require a mens rea. If you did the act, you are guilty, regardless of your intent or knowledge.

1. Murder — Malice Aforethought

Common Law “Malice” exists in four ways:

• Intent to Kill: Express malice.
• Intent to Cause Serious Bodily Harm: You didn't mean to kill them, but you meant to hurt them badly, and they died.
• Depraved Heart, or Extreme Recklessness: A “callous disregard for human life,” such as firing a gun into a crowded room.
• Felony Murder: A death that occurs during the commission of an inherently dangerous felony. Use BARRK: Burglary, Arson, Rape, Robbery, Kidnapping.

2. Manslaughter — The “Lower” Gears

Voluntary Manslaughter: An intentional killing committed in the “Heat of Passion.”

The Requirement: There must be adequate provocation, meaning something that would make a reasonable person lose control, and no “cooling-off period.”

Involuntary Manslaughter: A killing committed with criminal negligence or during the commission of a misdemeanor.

1. Attempt

Elements: Specific intent to commit the crime, and a substantial step toward its completion.

Note: Mere preparation is not enough.

2. Conspiracy

Elements: An agreement between two or more people, and an overt act in furtherance of the conspiracy in most modern jurisdictions.

Pinkerton Liability: A conspirator is liable for all foreseeable crimes committed by co-conspirators in furtherance of the conspiracy.

3. Solicitation

Asking, encouraging, or paying someone else to commit a crime with the specific intent that they do so.

1. Justification Defenses — The Act was “Right”

Self-Defense: The use of reasonable force to protect oneself from an imminent, unlawful attack. Deadly force is only permitted to prevent death or serious bodily harm.

Defense of Others: You may use force to protect another person if they would have been justified in using that force themselves.

Necessity, or The “Lesser of Two Evils”: Breaking the law to prevent a significantly greater harm, such as breaking into a cabin to survive a blizzard.

2. Excuse Defenses — The Defendant wasn't “Right”

Duress: Committing a crime because of a threat of imminent death or serious bodily injury to yourself or a third party. Note: Duress is never a defense to intentional homicide.

Insanity:

• M’Naghten Rule: The defendant didn't know the nature of the act or didn't know it was wrong.
• MPC Test: The defendant lacked the substantial capacity to appreciate the wrongfulness of the act or to conform their conduct to the law.

Entrapment: The government induced a person to commit a crime they were not otherwise predisposed to commit.

Larceny

The trespassory taking and carrying away of the personal property of another with the intent to permanently deprive them of it.

Embezzlement

The fraudulent conversion of property by someone who is already in lawful possession of it, such as a bank teller.

Robbery

Larceny plus force or threat of force.

Burglary

The breaking and entering of a dwelling, or building, at night, and modernly anytime, with the intent to commit a felony therein.

4th Amendment

Protection against unreasonable Search and Seizure. Requires a warrant based on probable cause unless an exception applies, such as Plain View or Exigent Circumstances.

5th Amendment

Miranda Doctrine: Protects against self-incrimination during custodial interrogation.

Double Jeopardy: Prevents being tried twice for the same offense in the same jurisdiction.

6th Amendment

The right to a speedy trial, an impartial jury, and the effective assistance of counsel.