HW

sanjs

CH3.pdf

Home >Law homework help >Criminal homework help >HW

Inside Criminal

Law

scanned, copied or duplicated, or posted to a publicly accessible website,

in whole or in part.

LEARNING OBJECTIVES

website, in whole or in part. CJ5 | CH3

1. List the four written sources of American criminal law.

2. Discuss the primary goals of civil law and criminal law and explain how these goals are realized.

3. List and briefly define the most important excuse defenses for crimes.

4. Describe the four most important justification criminal defenses.

5. Explain the importance of the due process clause in the criminal justice system.

website, in whole or in part. CJ5 | CH3

LO 1

List the four written sources of American criminal law.

website, in whole or in part. CJ5 | CH3

Written Sources of Criminal Law (Slide 1 of 2)

• Constitutional law: Based on the United States Constitution and the various state constitutions

• Statutory law: Enacted by legislative bodies • Supremacy clause: Establishes that federal law

is the supreme law of the land

• Ballot initiative: Citizens of a state, by collecting enough signatures, can force a public vote on a proposed change to state law

LO 1

website, in whole or in part. CJ5 | CH3

Written Sources of Criminal Law (Slide 2 of 2)

• Administrative law: Created by administrative agencies

• Case law: Rules of law announced in court decisions • Precedent: Court decision that furnishes an

example of authority for deciding subsequent cases involving similar facts

• Stare decisis: Legal doctrine under which judges are obligated to follow the precedents established in prior decisions

LO 1

website, in whole or in part. CJ5 | CH3

LO 2

Discuss the primary goals of civil law and criminal law and explain how these goals are realized.

website, in whole or in part. CJ5 | CH3

Functions of the Law

• Maintain social order by protecting citizens from criminal harm

• Maintain and promote social values of a society • Teach societal boundaries by punishing citizens

who disobey the law

LO 2

website, in whole or in part.

Figure

CJ5 | CH3

3.2 Civil Law versus Criminal Law

Issue Civil Law Criminal Law

Area of concern Rights and duties between individuals

Offenses against society as a whole

Wrongful act Harm to a person or business entity Violation of a statute that prohibits some type of activity

Party who brings suit

Person who suffered harm (plaintiff) The state (prosecutor)

Party who responds

Person who supposedly caused harm (defendant)

Person who allegedly committed a crime (defendant)

Standard of proof

Preponderance of the evidence Beyond a reasonable doubt

Remedy Damages to compensate for the harm

Punishment (fine or incarceration)

LO 2

website, in whole or in part. CJ5 | CH3

Burden of Proof

• Greater in criminal trials than civil ones

• Beyond a reasonable doubt: Degree of proof required to find the defendant in a criminal trial guilty of committing the crime

• Preponderance of the evidence: Degree of proof required in a civil case • Requirement is met when a plaintiff proves that

a fact more likely than not is true

LO 2

website, in whole or in part. CJ5 | CH3

Types of Crime (Slide 1 of 2)

• Felony: A serious crime, punishable by death or imprisonment for a year or longer

• Misdemeanor: Criminal offense that is not a felony and is punishable by a fine and/or a jail term of less than one year • Types

➖Gross misdemeanor

➖Petty misdemeanor

LO 2

website, in whole or in part. CJ5 | CH3

Types of Crime (Slide 2 of 2)

• Infraction: Noncriminal offense for which the penalty is a fine rather than incarceration

• Mala in se: Descriptive term for acts that are inherently wrong, regardless of whether they are prohibited by law

• Mala prohibita: Descriptive term for acts that are made illegal by criminal statute and are not necessarily wrong in and of themselves

LO 2

website, in whole or in part. CJ5 | CH3

Corpus Delicti (Slide 1 of 2)

• Body of circumstances that must exist for a criminal act to have occurred

• Includes: • The actus reus, or guilty act

• The mens rea, or guilty intent

• Concurrence, or the coming together of the criminal act and the guilty mind

LO 2

website, in whole or in part. CJ5 | CH3

Corpus Delicti (Slide 2 of 2)

• A link between the act and the legal definition of the crime

• Any attendant, or accompanying, circumstances

• The harm done by the crime

LO 2

website, in whole or in part. CJ5 | CH3

Actus Reus

• Act of commission • Must be voluntary

• Act of omission can be a crime, but only when a person has a legal duty to perform the omitted act

• Planning a crime is not criminal until it is translated into action

• Person can be punished for attempting murder or robbery

LO 2

website, in whole or in part. CJ5 | CH3

Mens Rea

• Mental state, or intent • Wrongful mental state is as necessary as a

wrongful act in determining guilt

• Categories • Purpose

• Knowledge

• Negligence

• Recklessness

LO 2

website, in whole or in part. CJ5 | CH3

Degrees of Crime

• First degree murder is punishable by life in prison or the death penalty

• Second degree murder is punishable by fifteen to twenty-five years in prison

• Voluntary manslaughter: Homicide in which the intent to kill was present

• Involuntary manslaughter: Homicide in which there was no intent to kill

LO 2

website, in whole or in part. CJ5 | CH3

Strict Liability

• Strict liability crimes: Defendant is guilty regardless of the state of mind at the time of the act • Statutory rape: An adult engages in a sexual act

with a minor

• Accomplice liability: Being charged of a crime that a person did not actually commit but has acted as an accomplice

• Felony-murder: Unlawful homicide that occurs during the attempted commission of a felony

LO 2

website, in whole or in part. CJ5 | CH3

Elements of a Crime (Slide 1 of 2)

• Concurrence means guilty act and guilty intent must occur together

• Causation • Law requires that the criminal act cause the

harm suffered

• Attendant circumstances: Facts surrounding a criminal event that must be proved to convict the defendant of the underlying crime

LO 2

website, in whole or in part. CJ5 | CH3

Elements of a Crime (Slide 2 of 2)

• Hate crime law: Provides sanctions against individuals who commit crimes motivated by bias against race, ethnicity, religion, gender, sexual orientation, disability, or age

• Harm • Inchoate offenses: Conduct deemed criminal

without actual harm being done

➖Provided that the harm that would have occurred is a harm the law tries to prevent

• Conspiracy: Plot by two or more people to carry out an illegal or harmful act

LO 2

website, in whole or in part. CJ5 | CH3

LO 3

List and briefly define the most important excuse defenses for crimes.

website, in whole or in part. CJ5 | CH3

Excuse Defenses (Slide 1 of 2)

• Alibi: Evidence that a suspect was elsewhere at the time of the crime, to prove his or her innocence

• Infancy: Status of a person who is below the legal age of majority • Under early American law, young wrongdoers

were excused because of the presumed inability to understand the consequences of their actions

LO 3

website, in whole or in part. CJ5 | CH3

Excuse Defenses (Slide 2 of 2)

• Insanity: Defense that asserts a lack of criminal responsibility due to mental instability • Competency hearing: Determines the mental

ability of the defendant to understand the charges filed against him or her

LO 3

website, in whole or in part. CJ5 | CH3

Tests to Determine Insanity (Slide 1 of 2)

• M’Naghten rule: Relies on the defendant’s inability to distinguish right from wrong

• ALI/MPC test: States that a person is not responsible for criminal behavior when he or she lacks substantial capacity • Known as the substantial-capacity test

LO 3

website, in whole or in part. CJ5 | CH3

Tests to Determine Insanity (Slide 2 of 2)

• Irresistible-impulse test: Defendant who knew his or her action was wrong may still be found insane if he or she was unable to control the urge to complete the act

website, in whole or in part. CJ5 | CH3

Criminal Responsibility and the Law: Intoxication

• Defense for criminal liability in which the defendant claims that the taking of intoxicants rendered him or her unable to form the requisite intent to commit a criminal act

• Types of intoxication are voluntary and involuntary

LO 3

website, in whole or in part. CJ5 | CH3

Criminal Responsibility and the Law: Mistake

• Ignorance of the law or a mistaken idea about what the law requires is not a valid defense • Mistake of law

• Mistake of fact

LO 3

website, in whole or in part. CJ5 | CH3

LO 4

Describe the four most important justification criminal defenses.

website, in whole or in part. CJ5 | CH3

Justification Defenses (Slide 1 of 2)

• Duress: Unlawful pressure that causes a person to perform an act that he or she would not otherwise perform

• Self-defense: Legally recognized privilege to protect one’s self or property from injury • Duty to Retreat: Requirement that a person

claiming self-defense prove that she or he first took reasonable steps to avoid the conflict that resulted in the use of deadly force

LO 4

website, in whole or in part. CJ5 | CH3

Justification Defenses (Slide 2 of 2)

• Necessity: Defendant asserts that circumstances forced her or him to commit an illegal act

• Entrapment: Defendant claims that he or she was induced by a public official to commit a crime that he or she would otherwise not have committed

LO 4

website, in whole or in part. CJ5 | CH3

LO 5

Explain the importance of the due process clause in the criminal justice system.

website, in whole or in part. CJ5 | CH3

Types of Criminal Law

• Substantive criminal law: Defines crimes and punishments

• Procedural criminal law: Governs procedures for investigating and prosecuting crimes

LO 5

website, in whole or in part. CJ5 | CH3

Bill of Rights

• The first ten amendments to the United States Constitution

• Procedural safeguards of most of the provisions of the Bill of Rights have been applied to the actions of state governments through the Fourteenth Amendment

LO 5

website, in whole or in part. CJ5 | CH3

Due Process Clause

• Guarantees that no person shall be deprived of life, liberty, or property without due process of law

• Types • Procedural due process: States that the law

must be carried out in a fair and orderly manner

• Substantive due process: Constitutional requirement that laws must be fair and reasonable in content and must further a legitimate governmental objective

LO 5

34CJ5 | CH3 34

KEY TERMS

website, in whole or in part. 34

• Rule of law • Constitutional law • Statutory law • Supremacy clause • Ballot initiative • Administrative law • Precedent • Case law • Stare decisis • Civil law • Plaintiff

• Defendant • Liable • Beyond a reasonable

doubt • Preponderance of the

evidence • Felony • Misdemeanor • Infraction • Mala in se • Mala prohibita

35Copy r i gh t ©201 6 Cenga g e Lear ni n g . A l l Ri ghts Res er v ed . M ay not be s c anne d , c opi ed or dupl i c at e d , or pos te d to a publ i c l y ac c e s s i bl e webs i te , i n whol e or i n par t. HIST4 | CH6 35CJ5 | CH3 35

KEY TERMS (continued)

website, in whole or in part. 35

• Corpus delicti • Attempt • Mens rea • Negligence • Recklessness • Voluntary

manslaughter • Involuntary

manslaughter • Strict liability crimes • Statutory rape

• Actus reus • Felony-murder • Attendant

circumstances • Hate crime laws • Inchoate offenses • Conspiracy

• Alibi

• Infancy

• Insanity

36Copy r i gh t ©201 6 Cenga g e Lear ni n g . A l l Ri ghts Res er v ed . M ay not be s c anne d , c opi ed or dupl i c at e d , or pos te d to a publ i c l y ac c e s s i bl e webs i te , i n whol e or i n par t. 3636

KEY TERMS (continued 2)

accessible website, in whole or in part. 36CJ5| CH3

• M’Naghten Rule

• Substantial-Capacity Test (ALI/MPC Test)

• Irresistible-impulse test

• Competency hearing • Intoxication • Duress • Self-defense

• Duty to retreat

• Necessity

• Entrapment

• Substantive criminal law

• Procedural criminal law

• Bill of rights

• Due process clause

• Procedural due process

• Substantive due process

37Copy r i gh t ©201 6 Cenga g e Lear ni n g . A l l Ri ghts Res er v ed . M ay not be s c anne d , c opi ed or dupl i c at e d , or pos te d to a publ i c l y ac c e s s i bl e webs i te , i n whol e or i n par t. HIST4 | CH6 37CJ5 | CH3 37

SUMMARY

website, in whole or in part. 37

• The American legal system relies on several written sources of law

• There are a number of established defenses for wrongdoing in the criminal courts

• Due process clause guarantees that no person shall be deprived of life, liberty, or property without due process of law