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Criminal Justice: A Brief Introduction Thirteenth Edition

Chapter 3 Criminal Law

The Nature and Purpose of Law (1 of 2)

• Law – A rule of conduct, generally found enacted in

the form of a statute, that proscribes or mandates certain forms of behavior

• Laws regulate relationships between people and between parties

The Nature and Purpose of Law (2 of 2)

• Statutory law—the “law on the books,” written or codified law resulting from legislative action

• Penal code—the written form of the criminal law.

• Case law—law resulting from judicial decisions.

• Common law—traditional body of law originating from usage and custom rather than from written statutes

Table 3.1 What Do Laws Do?

• Laws maintain order in society.

• Laws regulate human interaction.

• Laws enforce moral beliefs.

• Laws define the economic environment.

• Laws enhance predictability.

• Laws support the powerful.

• Laws promote orderly social change.

• Laws sustain individual rights.

• Laws redress wrongs.

• Laws identify wrongdoers.

• Laws mandate punishment and retribution.

The Rule of Law (1 of 2)

• The belief that an orderly society must be governed by established principles and known codes that are applied uniformly and fairly to all of its members

• No one is above the law; those who make or enforce the law must also abide by it

• Sometimes referred to as the supremacy of law

• Jurisprudence-the philosophy of law, the science and study of the law, including the rule of law

The Rule of Law (2 of 2)

• Key elements of the rule of law: – Freedom from private lawlessness – High degree of objectivity in formulating legal

norms and evenhandedness in their application – Legal ideas/devices for attaining individual and

group objectives within bounds of ordered liberty

– Substantive and procedural limitations on governmental power

Criminal Law

• The body of rules and regulations that define and specify the nature of and punishments for offenses of a public nature or for wrongs committed against the state or society

• Also called penal law

• Includes statutory (written law) and case law

Statutory Law

• Substantive criminal law – The part of the law that defines crimes and

specifies punishments

• Procedural law – The part of the law that specifies the methods

to be used in enforcing substantive law – Balance suspect’s rights against the state’s

interests in the speedy and efficient processing of defendants

Civil Law (1 of 2)

• Governs relationships between and among parties

• Includes rules for contracts, divorces, child support and custody, wills, libel, etc.

• Civil suits typically seek compensation, not punishment

Civil Law (2 of 2)

• Violation of civil law is not a crime

• May be a contract violation or a tort – Tort—a wrongful act, damage, or injury not

involving a breach of contract (personal wrong, not a crime)

• Parties to a civil suit – Plaintiff: Seeks relief – Defendant: Against whom relief is sought

Administrative Law

• Body of regulations governments create to control the activities of industries, businesses, and individuals

• Includes tax laws, health codes, vehicle registration laws

• Most breaches of administrative law are not crimes, but criminal law and administrative regulations may overlap

Case Law

• Law of precedent, comes from judicial decisions

• Precedent – A legal principle that ensures that previous

judicial decisions are authoritatively considered and incorporated into future cases

• Stare decisis – A legal principle that requires that in

subsequent cases on similar issues of law and fact, courts be bound by their own earlier decisions and by those of higher courts having jurisdiction over them

Felonies

• A criminal offense punishable by death or by incarceration in a prison facility for at least one year

• Serious crimes such as murder, rape, aggravated assault, robbery, burglary, and arson

• Convicted felons typically lose certain privileges upon release from prison

Misdemeanors

• An offense punishable by incarceration, usually in a local confinement facility, for a period whose upper limit is prescribed by statute in a given jurisdiction, typically one year or less

• Relative minor crimes such as petty theft, simple assault, breaking and entering, disturbing the peace, etc.

• Most offenders receive suspended sentences involving a fine and supervised probation

Infractions

• A minor violation of state statute or local ordinance punishable by a fine or other penalty or by a specified, usually limited, term of incarceration

• Typically includes things like jaywalking, spitting on the sidewalk, littering, and certain traffic offenses

• Offenders are normally ticketed and released

Treason

• A U.S. citizen’s actions to help a foreign government overthrow, make war against, or seriously injure the United States

• The attempt to overthrow the government of the society of which one is a member

Espionage

• The “gathering, transmitting, or losing” of information related to the national defense in a manner that the information becomes available to enemies of the United States and may be used to their advantage

• The key difference between treason and espionage is that espionage may be committed by non-U. S. citizens

Inchoate Offenses

• An incomplete offense—one that has not been fully carried out

• An offense that consists of an action or conduct that is a step toward the intended commission of another offense

• Includes conspiracies and attempts to commit a crime

General Features of Crime

• The essence of crime consists of three conjoined elements

– Actus reus – Mens rea – Concurrence

Figure 3.3 Features of a Crime

The Criminal Act (Actus Reus)

• “Guilty act”

• Person must commit a voluntary act for it to be considered a crime

• To be something is not a crime; to do something may be.

– An omission to act can be a crime – Threatening to act can be a crime – Conspiracy can be a crime

A Guilty Mind (Mens Rea) (1 of 5)

• The state of mind that accompanies a criminal act; the defendant’s mental state at the time of the crime

• Types or levels of mens rea – Purposeful or intentional – Knowing – Reckless – Negligent

A Guilty Mind (Mens Rea) (2 of 5)

• Purposeful or intentional action – Undertaken to achieve some goal – Transferred intent—if harm resulting from an

intentional action is unintended, criminal liability is not reduced

• Knowing behavior – Undertaken with awareness, although the

intended purpose of acting in a knowingly criminal way may not be criminal intent

– Involves near certainty

A Guilty Mind (Mens Rea) (3 of 5)

• Reckless behavior – An activity that increases the risk of harm – Lacks the certainty of knowing behavior

• Criminal negligence – A behavior in which a person fails to reasonably

perceive substantial and unjustifiable risks of dangerous consequences

– No negative consequences need to be intended

A Guilty Mind (Mens Rea) (4 of 5)

• Mens rea is not the same thing as motive

• Motive – A person’s reason for committing a crime – Motive is not an essential element of a crime

• Mens rea must generally be inferred from a person’s actions and from all circumstances

A Guilty Mind (Mens Rea) (5 of 5)

• Strict liability crimes do not require mens rea – Also called absolute liability offenses – Make it a crime simply to do something, even if

there is no intent to violate the law – Routine traffic offenses, statutory rape

Concurrence

• Requires that the act and the mental state occur together in order for a crime to take place

• If one occurs before the other, the requirements of the criminal law have not been met

Other Features of Crime (1 of 3)

• Causation – The concurrence of a guilty mind and a criminal

act may cause harm – Legal cause—must be demonstrated in court to

hold an individual criminally liable for causing harm

• Harm – Harm occurs in all crimes but not all harms are

crimes – Harm subsumed under notion of guilty act in a

criminal prosecution

Other Features of Crime (2 of 3)

• Legality – A behavior cannot be criminal if no law exists

that defines it as such – Ex post facto laws (“after the fact”) are not

binding  Laws cannot be binding prior to the date of

their creation

• Punishment – No crime can be said to occur where

punishment has not been specified in the law

Other Features of Crime (3 of 3)

• Necessary attendant circumstances – The facts surrounding an event – Additional elements that must be present for a

conviction to be obtained – May increase the degree, or level of

seriousness, of an offense

Elements of a Specific Criminal Offense

• Element of a crime – In a specific crime, one of the essential features

of that crime, as specified by law or statute

• Elements of first-degree murder – Unlawful killing – Of a human being – Intentionally – With planning (or “malice aforethought”)

The Corpus Delicti of a Crime

• “The body of the crime” or the facts that show that a crime has occurred

• A person cannot be tried for a crime until it has been shown the crime occurred

• Two key aspects: – A certain result has been produced – A person is criminally responsible for its

production

• The identity of the perpetrator is not an element of the corpus delicti of an offense

Figure 3.4 Body of Crime

Types of Defenses to a Criminal Charge

• Defense – Evidence and arguments offered by the

defendant to show why he or she should not be held liable for a criminal charge

• Four categories of defenses – Alibi – Justification – Excuse – Procedural defenses

Alibi

• The claim that the defendant could not have committed the crime because he or she was elsewhere at the time

• Based upon the premise that the defendant is truly innocent

• Denies that the defendant committed the crime

• Best supported by witnesses and documentation

Justifications (1 of 6)

• The defendant admits to committing the act but claims that it was necessary to avoid some greater evil

• Claiming a moral high ground

• Conduct that a person believes is necessary to avoid harm to himself or herself is justifiable if the harm the person is trying to avoid is greater than the harm that may be caused by his or her conduct

Justifications (2 of 6)

• Self-defense – The defendant needed to inflict harm on

another to ensure his or her own safety in the face of near-certain injury or death

– Amount of defensive force must be proportional to that being faced

– Reasonable force  The degree of force that is appropriate in a

given situation and that is not excessive

Justifications (3 of 6)

• Defense of others – Extension of self-defense to the use of

reasonable force to defend others – Alter ego rule

 A person can only defend a third party under circumstances, and only to the degree that the third party could legally act on his or her own behalf

Justifications (4 of 6)

• Defense of home and property – Most jurisdictions allow property owners to use

reasonable nondeadly force to protect property – Castle exception: There is no duty to retreat

from one’s own home in the face of an immediate threat, even if retreat is possible, before using deadly force to protect the home

Justifications (5 of 6)

• Necessity – The claim that some illegal action was needed to

prevent an even greater harm – A useful defense in cases that do not involve

serious bodily harm.

• Consent – Defense that claims that whatever harm was

done occurred only after the injured person gave his or her permission for the behavior in question

Justifications (6 of 6)

• Resisting unlawful arrest – Resisting arrest is a crime in all jurisdictions – Resistance may be justifiable, especially if the

arresting officer uses excessive force – Laws generally say that a person may use a

reasonable amount of force, other than deadly force, to resist arrest or an unlawful search if the officer uses greater than necessary force

Excuses (1 of 11)

• Defenses claiming that the individual engaging in the unlawful behavior was, at the time, not legally responsible for his or her actions and should not be held accountable under the law

• Criminal liability may be negated on the basis of some personal disability the individual has or some special circumstances characterizing the situation

Excuses (2 of 11)

• Duress – Any unlawful threat or coercion used by a

person to act (or refrain from acting) in a manner he or she otherwise would not (or would)

– Generally not a useful defense when the crime involves serious physical harm

• Age – In most jurisdictions, children below age 7

cannot be charged even with juvenile offenses

Excuses (3 of 11)

• Mistake – Mistake of law is rarely an acceptable defense

(“Ignorance of the law is no defense”) – Mistake of fact may be a useful defense

• Involuntary intoxication – The claim that the person was tricked into

consuming an intoxicating substance, which created an altered mental condition

– Voluntary intoxication is rarely a defense

Excuses (4 of 11)

• Unconsciousness – An individual cannot be held responsible for

anything he or she does while unconscious – Rarely used

• Provocation – A person can be emotionally enraged by

another who intends to elicit this reaction – Generally more acceptable in minor offenses

Excuses (5 of 11)

• Insanity – Insanity is a legal concept, not a medical one – Defense based on claims of mental illness or

mental incapacity – Rarely used and even more rarely successful

Excuses (6 of 11)

• M’Naghten Rule—did the defendant know what he or she was doing or that the behavior was wrong

• Irresistible Impulse—defendant unable to stop doing what he or she knew was wrong

• Durham Rule—a person is not criminally responsible if his or her actions resulted from mental disease or defect

• Substantial-Capacity Test—defendant lacked the mental capacity to understand the wrongfulness of his act or conform his behavior to the requirements of law

Excuses (7 of 11)

• Difficulties with the insanity defense – Psychiatric testimony is expensive and expert

witnesses often contradict each other – Society often not satisfied that justice is served

when findings of “not guilty due to insanity” are made

• Four states have barred the use of the insanity defense (Kansas, Montana, Idaho, Utah)

Excuses (8 of 11)

• Guilty but mentally ill verdict (G B M I) – Some states use “guilty but insane” finding – A verdict, equivalent to a finding of “guilty” that

establishes that the defendant, although mentally ill, was in sufficient possession of his or her faculties to be morally blameworthy for his or her acts

– Judge may impose any sentence possible under the law but usually also mandates psychiatric treatment

Excuses (9 of 11)

• Temporary insanity – The offender claims to have been insane only at

the time of the crime

• The insanity defense under federal law – Insanity Defense Reform Act (1984) uses a

definition of insanity similar to that used in M’Naghten

– Places the burden of proving insanity defense on the defendant

Excuses (10 of 11)

• The consequences of an insanity ruling – Judge may order the defendant to undergo

psychiatric treatment until “cured” – Defendants may spend more time in a

psychiatric institution than would have been spent in prison

• Diminished capacity – A defense claiming a mental condition that may

be insufficient to exonerate the defendant but that may be relevant to specific mental elements of a crime

– Abolished in some states

Excuses (11 of 11)

• Mental incompetence – Refers to the defendant’s condition immediately

before prosecution – Incompetent to stand trial

 As a result of mental illness, the defendant is incapable of understanding the nature of the proceedings, of consulting with an attorney, and of aiding in his or her own defense

Procedural Defenses (1 of 5)

• Procedural defenses claim that the defendant was in some manner discriminated against in the justice process

• May also claim that some important aspect of official procedure was not properly followed

Procedural Defenses (2 of 5)

• Entrapment – An improper or illegal inducement to crime by

agents of law enforcement – Agents created a crime where there otherwise

would have been none

• Double jeopardy – Prohibits a second trial for the same offense – Does not apply in cases of trial error (hung jury,

etc.) – Does not prevent someone from being tried in

both civil and criminal court

Procedural Defenses (3 of 5)

• Collateral estoppel – Facts that have been determined by a “valid

and final judgment” cannot become the object of new litigation

• Selective prosecution – 14th Amendment guarantees equal protection of

the laws – Defense may apply if several individuals are

suspected of a crime but not all are actively prosecuted

Procedural Defenses (4 of 5)

• Denial of a speedy trial – 6th Amendment guarantees the right to a

speedy trial – State/federal laws define time limits necessary

for a trial to be “speedy” – Does not include delays resulting from requests

by the defense – If the legal time limit is exceeded, the

defendant must be released and no trial can occur

Procedural Defenses (5 of 5)

• Prosecutorial misconduct – Actions by prosecutors that give the

government an unfair advantage or prejudice the rights of a defendant or witness

• Police fraud – Defense available to defendants victimized by

the police through planted evidence, fabrication of facts, false arrests

Criminal Justice: A Brief Introduction
The Nature and Purpose of Law (1 of 2)
The Nature and Purpose of Law (2 of 2)
Table 3.1 What Do Laws Do?
The Rule of Law (1 of 2)
The Rule of Law (2 of 2)
Criminal Law
Statutory Law
Civil Law (1 of 2)
Civil Law (2 of 2)
Administrative Law
Case Law
Felonies
Misdemeanors
Infractions
Treason
Espionage
Inchoate Offenses
General Features of Crime
Figure 3.3 Features of a Crime
The Criminal Act (Actus Reus)
A Guilty Mind (Mens Rea) (1 of 5)
A Guilty Mind (Mens Rea) (2 of 5)
A Guilty Mind (Mens Rea) (3 of 5)
A Guilty Mind (Mens Rea) (4 of 5)
A Guilty Mind (Mens Rea) (5 of 5)
Concurrence
Other Features of Crime (1 of 3)
Other Features of Crime (2 of 3)
Other Features of Crime (3 of 3)
Elements of a Specific Criminal Offense
The Corpus Delicti of a Crime
Figure 3.4 Body of Crime
Types of Defenses to a Criminal Charge
Alibi
Justifications (1 of 6)
Justifications (2 of 6)
Justifications (3 of 6)
Justifications (4 of 6)
Justifications (5 of 6)
Justifications (6 of 6)
Excuses (1 of 11)
Excuses (2 of 11)
Excuses (3 of 11)
Excuses (4 of 11)
Excuses (5 of 11)
Excuses (6 of 11)
Excuses (7 of 11)
Excuses (8 of 11)
Excuses (9 of 11)
Excuses (10 of 11)
Excuses (11 of 11)
Procedural Defenses (1 of 5)
Procedural Defenses (2 of 5)
Procedural Defenses (3 of 5)
Procedural Defenses (4 of 5)
Procedural Defenses (5 of 5)
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