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Foundations of Law and Crime: Nature, Elements, and Defenses

Peak, Introduction to Criminal Justice

Learning Objectives

Briefly explain how modern-day law evolved from English common law, and the differences between criminal and civil law

Explain the difference between substantive and procedural law

Review two critical elements of the criminal law—criminal intent (mens rea) and the physical commission of the criminal act (actus reus)

Peak, Introduction to Criminal Justice

Learning Objectives

Delineate the definitions of, and distinctions between, felonies and misdemeanors, crimes against persons and property, and the different degrees of homicide and sexual assault

Discuss the various defenses that criminal defendants may offer to reduce or eliminate their criminal liability

Peak, Introduction to Criminal Justice

Common Law and Its Progeny

The Code of Hammurabi

Lex talionis

An eye for an eye, a tooth for a tooth

Peak, Introduction to Criminal Justice

Israelites

Mosaic Code

Moses passed on the law to the tribes of Israel

Common Law and Its Progeny

Common Law

Collections of rules, customs, and traditions of medieval England, created during the reign of Henry II

Stare decisis

When a court has once laid down a principle of law as applicable to a certain state of facts, it will adhere to that principle – and apply it in the same manner to all future cases where facts are the same

Peak, Introduction to Criminal Justice

Modern-Day Sources of Hierarchy of Law

The U.S. features different sources of law and jurisdictions where those laws are enforced and administered

Terminology is critical to understanding law

Statute

law enacted by Congress or state legislature, also known as statutory law

Code or ordinance

law enacted by local lawmaking body

Peak, Introduction to Criminal Justice

Modern-Day Sources of Hierarchy of Law

Other Types of Laws

Federal Law

U.S. Constitution

Federal Statutes

Administrative laws

Federal common law

Peak, Introduction to Criminal Justice

State law

State constitutional law

State statutes

State common law

Modern-Day Sources of Hierarchy of Law

City/Council Law

Building and construction standards

Rent control

Noise and nuisance regulations

Public health and safety

Business licenses

Civil rights and antidiscrimination

Peak, Introduction to Criminal Justice

Criminal and Civil Law

Criminal law

The body of law that defines criminal offenses and prescribes punishments for their infractions

Prosecutor has burden of proof

The requirement that the state must meet to introduce evidence or establish facts

Peak, Introduction to Criminal Justice

Criminal and Civil Law

Beyond a reasonable doubt

The standard used by jurors to arrive at a verdict—whether or not the government (prosecutor) has established guilt beyond a reasonable doubt

Penalty

Prison or jail time, monetary fine, community-based punishment

Peak, Introduction to Criminal Justice

Criminal and Civil Law

Civil law

Plaintiff

The party who is bringing a lawsuit or initiating a legal action against someone else.

Defendant

A person against whom a criminal charge is pending; one charged with a crime

Peak, Introduction to Criminal Justice

Criminal and Civil Law

Burden of proof rests on the party seeking damages or remedy by preponderance of evidence: often referred to as the “50 percent plus a feather” test

Penalty

Money or some legal remedy

Substantive and Procedural Law

Substantive law

The body of law that spells out the elements of criminal acts

Procedural law

Rules that set forth how substantive laws are to be enforced, such as those covering arrest, search, and seizure

Miranda warnings

Peak, Introduction to Criminal Justice

Essential Element

Mens Rea – guilty mind

Intent: a purposeful act or state of mind to commit a crime

Motive: the reason for committing a crime

Real questions at trial

Did defendant commit the illegal act

Did they have necessary mental state

Peak, Introduction to Criminal Justice

Essential Elements:

Actus Reus – criminal act

Voluntary, overt act or an intentional failure to act where there is a legal duty to do so (known as an “omission,” such as a parent failing to feed a child or give him or her medical attention)

The rule is to prove that the defendant committed the actus reus element with the means rea set forth in the criminal law.

Peak, Introduction to Criminal Justice

Felonies and Misdemeanors

Crimes are classified into two broad categories

Felonies

Offenses punishable by death or that have a possible sentence of more than one year of incarceration in prison

Misdemeanors

Less serious offense and is typically punishable by incarceration for less than one year in a local jail

Peak, Introduction to Criminal Justice

Offense Definitions and Categories

Crime Against Persons

Most people consider these as violent crime or street crime

Homicide

Taking of a human life, most serious act that one can perpetrate against another person

Justifiable homicide

Acts of war, self-defense, legal state or federal executions

Excusable homicide

Killings that are accidental

Peak, Introduction to Criminal Justice

Offense Definitions and Categories

Criminal homicides fall into two categories

Murder (intentional)

Categorized by degrees

Murder 1st Degree: is the unlawful, intentional killing of a human being with premeditation/deliberation (often termed “P&D”) and malice aforethought

Murder 2nd Degree: intentional—with malice—yet impulsive, without P&D

Peak, Introduction to Criminal Justice

Murder Rates Rising Sharply in Many U.S. Cities: http://www.nytimes.com/2015/09/01/us/murder-rates-rising-sharply-in-many-us-cities.html

Offense Definitions and Categories

Manslaughter (accidental)

Voluntary manslaughter

Intentional killing but involves (at least in the eyes of the law) no malice; instead, there is “heat of passion” to a degree that a “reasonable person” might have been provoked into killing someone

Peak, Introduction to Criminal Justice

Offense Definitions and Categories

Involuntary manslaughter

Typically established in two ways: (1) acts of negligence, such as when one is driving too fast on a slick road and kills a pedestrian, and(2) the misdemeanor-manslaughter rule—similar to the felony-murder rule, but the crime involved is a misdemeanor

Peak, Introduction to Criminal Justice

Offense Definitions and Categories

Sexual Assault, “rape” or “forcible rape”

Historically defined as the carnal knowledge of a female forcibly and against her will

Categorized by degrees depending on the type of contact

Includes a strict liability with no mens rea election, also known as statutory rape

Peak, Introduction to Criminal Justice

Here's What St. Paul's Is Telling Alumni About The Owen Labrie Rape Case: http://www.huffingtonpost.com/entry/st-pauls-rape-case-alumni-letter_55e487cae4b0b7a96339b1ae

Offense Definitions and Categories

Robbery

Taking of or attempt to take anything of value from the care, custody, or control of a person or persons by force or threat of force or violence and/or by putting the victim in fear

Aggravated assault

an unlawful attack upon another for the purpose of inflicting severe or aggravated bodily injury

Peak, Introduction to Criminal Justice

Offense Definitions and Categories

Crimes against property

A crime where no violence is perpetrated

Burglary

The unlawful entry of a structure to commit a felony or theft

Larceny-theft

The unlawful taking, carrying, leading, or riding away of property from the possession of another

Peak, Introduction to Criminal Justice

Offense Definitions and Categories

Motor vehicle theft

The theft or attempted theft of a motor vehicle

Arson

Any willful or malicious burning or attempting to burn, with or without intent to defraud, a dwelling house, a public building, a motor vehicle or aircraft, personal property of another, and so fort

Peak, Introduction to Criminal Justice

Defenses

Affirmative defenses

The defendant admits to the criminal conduct but offers his or her reasons for acting

Two categories

Excuses

The defendant admits to the criminal act, but claims they are excused because of their age or mental state

Justifications

The defendant admits to the criminal act, but claims they were justified in so acting because of some circumstances, such as the need to act in self-defense or to stop a fleeing felon

Peak, Introduction to Criminal Justice

What is the general definition of defense?

Defenses

Justification defenses

Self-Defense

Necessity defense, where the defendant argues that he or she had to commit the act because it was necessary to avoid some greater harm

Peak, Introduction to Criminal Justice

Ex-School Security Guard Claims Self-Defense in Shooting of Neighbor: http://abcnews.go.com/GMA/video/school-security-guard-claims-defense-shooting-neighbor-33428950

Defenses

What are some other examples of justification defenses?

Peak, Introduction to Criminal Justice

Defenses

Age

Excuses the acts of children age 7 and under because they are too young to be criminally responsible for their actions—they are too young to form the requisite mens rea

Entrapment

Police tactics that overly encourage or entice individuals to commit crimes they normally would not commit

Peak, Introduction to Criminal Justice

Defenses

Intoxication

Intoxication defense is rooted in the concept of mens rea, and defendants must show that they were operating under such “diminished capacity” that they could not know what they were doing and cannot be held responsible

Duress

Excuse with defendants claiming that they committed the act only because they were not acting of their own free will

Peak, Introduction to Criminal Justice

Defenses

Double Jeopardy

Subjecting an accused person to be tried twice for the same offense; prohibited by the Fifth Amendment

Mental Illness/Insanity

Right-wrong test

The test of legal insanity, asking whether the defendant understood the nature and quality of his or her act and, if so, if he or she understood it was wrong

Irresistible impulse test

Requires a showing that the defendant because of a mental illness could not control his or her impulses

Peak, Introduction to Criminal Justice

Homicide ruling reversed in case of infant’s 2013 death: https://www.bostonglobe.com/metro/2015/08/31/state-medical-examiner-office-changes-finding-finds-homicide-infant-death/yQSNRpNQwWw5Ha29Bhqs4H/story.html

Insanity legal defense rarely wins: http://www.sandiegouniontribune.com/news/2015/jul/16/insanity-defense-james-holmes-verdict-colorado/

Conclusion

What is the rule of law important?

Peak, Introduction to Criminal Justice