Chapter 9

1. Chapter 9 Excuses

2. Excuse Defenses Insanity Defense Diminished Responsibility Age Duress Mistake of Law Mistake of Fact Entrapment New Defenses Chapter Summary Lippman, Contemporary Criminal Law, Second Edition

3. Introduction • Defendant acknowledges that the law has been broken, however, the defendant is not responsible. • Affirmative defense Lippman, Contemporary Criminal Law, Second Edition

4. Insanity Defense • Defendant must show insanity at trial by offering expert testimony to the fact. • In some states, when found not-guilty by reason of insanity, defendant is committed to a mental institution until it is confirmed that defendant no longer poses a danger to society. • Civil commitment hearings are often conducted to determine defendant’s danger to society. Lippman, Contemporary Criminal Law, Second Edition

5. Insanity Defense, cont. • This defense is important for three reasons • to ensure only those with free will are punished • it would be cruel to seek retribution against those unable to control their actions • such an individual may still pose a danger to society and thus need professional treatment • Insanity defense is distinct from a determination of competency to stand trial. Lippman, Contemporary Criminal Law, Second Edition

6. Tests for Insanity • M’Naghten Rule • used by most states and the federal government • defendant, at the time of the crime, suffered from such a defect of reason that defendant :did not know what defendant was doing” or “did not know right from wrong” • Irresistible Impulse Test • a “disease of the mind” caused defendant to not know right from wrong, destroyed defendant’s free will, and was the sole cause of the act Lippman, Contemporary Criminal Law, Second Edition

7. Tests for Insanity, cont. • Durham Product Test • the act was a product of a mental disease or defect • Model Penal Code Standard (Substantial Capacity Test) • defendant lacks the capacity to appreciate the criminality of conduct or to conform to conduct required by law Lippman, Contemporary Criminal Law, Second Edition

8. Legal Equation Lippman, Contemporary Criminal Law, Second Edition

9. Legal Equation Lippman, Contemporary Criminal Law, Second Edition

10. Legal Equation Lippman, Contemporary Criminal Law, Second Edition

11. Legal Equation Lippman, Contemporary Criminal Law, Second Edition

12. Criticisms of Insanity Defense • Biased for wealthy defendants • Goes against theories of punishment • A fine line exists between sanity and insanity • Psychological experts often give conflicting testimony using technical jargon that can be confusing for jurors Lippman, Contemporary Criminal Law, Second Edition

13. Diminished Responsibility • Some defendants have the right to demonstrate a lack of capacity to form required intent. • Voluntary intoxication can serve as a slight mitigating factor, in some states. • Many states have returned to the common law rule that intoxication is no defense. Lippman, Contemporary Criminal Law, Second Edition

14. Involuntary Intoxication • Serves as a defense insomuch as it is applied to the jurisdiction’s test for insanity • Can occur by means of duress, mistake, fraud, or medication Lippman, Contemporary Criminal Law, Second Edition

15. Age • Common law recognized three categories of increasing responsibility • Under seven years lack capacity to form intent • Between seven and fourteen assumed to lack capacity, but is rebuttable at court • Over fourteen possess adult capacity Lippman, Contemporary Criminal Law, Second Edition

16. Duress • Common law excused guilt from those who committed a crime to avoid imminent death or bodily harm. • People cannot be expected to act in a heroic fashion or resist threats of death or serious bodily harm. • Those who commit crime in response to a severe threat lack intent. • Those who commit crime under duress act in an involuntary manner. Lippman, Contemporary Criminal Law, Second Edition

17. Legal Equation Lippman, Contemporary Criminal Law, Second Edition

18. Mistake of Law • Ignorantia lexis non excusat, “ignorance of the law is no excuse.” • People are expected to know the law. • Ignorance may falsely be claimed. • Individuals cannot be permitted to define the law, themselves. • Notice of new laws must be given to citizens. Lippman, Contemporary Criminal Law, Second Edition

19. Mistake of Fact • Model Penal Code • “ignorance or mistake is a defense when it negates the existence of a state of mind that is essential to the commission of an offense” • Mistake must be honest and in good faith. Lippman, Contemporary Criminal Law, Second Edition

20. Legal Equation Lippman, Contemporary Criminal Law, Second Edition

21. Entrapment • Conception and planning of an offense by an officer, and his procurement of its commission by one who would not have perpetrated it except by the trickers, persuasion, or fraud of the officer Lippman, Contemporary Criminal Law, Second Edition

22. Tests for Entrapment • Subjective • focuses on the defendant • did defendant possess a predisposition to commit the crime whether or not the government created the offense • Objective • focuses on the conduct of the government • did the conduct of the government fall below standards to which common feelings respond Lippman, Contemporary Criminal Law, Second Edition

23. Legal Equation Lippman, Contemporary Criminal Law, Second Edition

24. New Defenses • Abuse • battered wife or child • the criminal act was a result of abuse • XXY Chromosome • PMS • Postpartum Psychosis • Environmental Lippman, Contemporary Criminal Law, Second Edition

25. New Sociological Defenses • Black Rage • Urban Survivor • Media Intoxication • Rotten Social Background Lippman, Contemporary Criminal Law, Second Edition

26. Cultural Defenses • The defendant’s native culture allows activity that is illegal in the Unites States • Typically unsuccessful at trial Lippman, Contemporary Criminal Law, Second Edition