The Legal Essence of Criminal Conduct

1. Schmalleger/Hall, Criminal Law Today, 5thedition • Chapter 2: Criminal Liability and the Essence of Crime Class Name,Instructor Name Date, Semester

2. CHAPTER OBJECTIVES 2.1 Describe the legal essence of criminal conduct. 2.2 Explain actusreus and what constitutes a criminal act. 2.3 Explain mensrea and the different types of intent. Describe strict liability offenses, and explain why some crimes are punished solely on the basis of strict liability. 2.4 Summarize concurrence, and describe how concurrence relates to mensrea and actusreus. 2.5

3. Learning Objectives • After this lecture, you should be able to complete the following Learning Outcomes • 2.1 Describe the legal essence of criminal conduct.

4. 2.1 The Legal Essence of Criminal Conduct • From the perspective of Western jurisprudence all crimes • can be said to share certain features, or elements, and • the notion of crime itself can be said to rest on such • general principles. • Taken together, these features compose the legal essence of the • concept of crime.

5. 2.1 The Legal Essence of Criminal Conduct They are referred to in legal parlance as the elements of crime and describe the most essential aspects of criminal conduct. • All crimes can be said to have these general elements in one form or another. • They may be defined by statute in various ways, depending on the jurisdiction.

6. 2.1 The Legal Essence of Criminal Conduct There are three essential aspects of all crimes: Concurrenceof the two Culpable Mental State (mensrea) The Criminal Act (actusreus)

7. 2.1 The essence of criminal conduct

8. Learning Objectives • After this lecture, you should be able to complete the following Learning Outcomes • 2.2 Explain actusreusand what constitutes a criminal act.

9. 2.2 The Criminal Act • Generally, a person must commit some act before being subject to criminal sanctions, and a necessary first feature of most crimes is some act in violation of the law. • Such an act is termed the actusreusof a crime. • The term (which, like much other legal terminology, is Latin) means a “guilty act.”

10. 2.2 The Criminal Act • Thoughts and beliefs alone are not acts • Being or status alone are not scts • Possession is an act • Failure to Act • Generally, failing to act isn’t criminal. • Exceptions exist, such as failure to report child abuse and sexual assault, failing to file tax return, and failing to report a human corpse.

11. 2.2 The Criminal Act • First Amendment Free Speech Clause protects expression, even if it is considered an act. • Exceptions: • Speech that creates a clear and present danger • Speech that is likely to incite violence • Slander and libel • Obscenity and child pornography

12. Learning Objectives • After this lecture, you should be able to complete the following Learning Outcomes • 2.3 Explain mensreaand the different types of intent.

13. 2.3 State of Mind • Mensreais the second general element of crime. • The term, which literally means “guilty mind,” refers to the specific mental state of the defendant at the time of the crime. • The importance of mensreaas a component of crime cannot be overemphasized, which can be seen in the fact that some courts have held that “[a]ll crime exists primarily in the mind.”

14. 2.3 Mensreav. Motive • Mensreaconcerns a person’s statement of mind in regards to the criminal act, while motive refers to the reason a person chose to act. • For example, whether or not a person intended to cause the death of her victim is a mensreaquestion. The reason she may have wanted her victim to die (e.g., to collect on a life insurance policy) is a motive. • As a matter of law, mensreamust be proven for a conviction. Motive does not have to be proven. • As a practical matter, a prosecutor may need to prove motive to a jury to obtain a conviction.

15. 2.3 Evolution of the Idea • At the common law, two forms of mensreawere recognized: general intent and specific intent. • Over time, the understanding of mental states underlying crimes became more sophisticated and additional forms of mensreadeveloped. • Today the Model Penal Code’s mensreascheme is dominant.

16. 2.3 Four types of mensrea

17. Learning Objectives • After this lecture, you should be able to complete the following Learning Outcomes • 2.4 Describe strict liability offenses, and explain why some crimes are punished solely on the basis of strict liability.

18. 2.4 Strict Liability and Mens Rea • A special category of crimes, called strict liability crimes, requires no culpable mental state and presents a significant exception to the principle that all crimes require a conjunction of action and mensrea. • Strict liability offenses (also called “absolute liability offenses”) make it a crime simply to do something, even if the offender has no intention of violating the law or causing the resulting harm. • Strict liability is philosophically based on the presumption that causing harm is in itself blameworthy, regardless of the actor’s intent.

19. 2.4 When Statutes Are Silent on Mens Rea • Some statutes are altogether silent on mensrea. • Because strict liability crimes are not favored by some legal scholars, courts will usually make an effort to determine if a mensrearequirement is embedded in the statute. • To accomplish this, courts have to interpret the statute. • There are many interpretation rules, or canons of construction, that are used to guide courts in criminal cases.

20. 2.4 Insanity and Mens Rea • The ability to form a statute’s requisite mensreacan be prevented or hindered by mental illness. • Indeed, the insanity defense is a mensreadefense. • As a defense, insanity has many forms, and special rules regulate its use. • For the moment, be aware that insanity as a mensreadefense refers to the defendant’s state of mind at the time the act occurred. Insanity at the time of trial is a different matter.

21. Learning Objectives • After this lecture, you should be able to complete the following Learning Outcomes • 2.5 Summarize concurrence, and describe how concurrence relates to mensreaand actusreus.

22. 2.5 Concurrence Concurrence Mens Rea Actus Reus

23. 2.5 Concurrence The concurrence of an unlawful act and a culpable mental state provides the third fundamental aspect of crime. Concurrence requires that the act and the mental state occur together in order for a crime to take place. Mensreamust precede, if only by a moment, and concur with the actusreus.

24. CHAPTER SUMMARY The legal essence of crime consists of three essential elements: actusreus(an act in violation of the law), mensrea(a guilty mind), and the concurrence of the two. Some scholars suggest that another four elements are also inherent in the concept of crime: causation, a resulting harm, the principle of legality, and necessary attendant circumstances. 2.1 To be something is not a crime, but to do something may be. For purposes of the criminal law, the word act means a performance, a deed, or a movement, as distinguished from remaining at rest. 2.2

25. CHAPTER SUMMARY Degrees of culpability, or types of mensrea, can be distinguished. At the common law, the distinction between specific and general intent was important. Today, the four most commonly specified levels of culpability are purposeful, knowing, reckless, and negligent. It is important to note that mensreais not the same thing as motive. A motive refers to a person’s reason for committing a crime. Mensrearefers to the offender’s mental state at the time the crime was committed. 2.3 Strict liability offenses, which are based on the presumption that causing harm is in itself blameworthy, represent an exception to general understandings of the nature of crime since they require no accompanying culpable mental state. 2.3

26. CHAPTER SUMMARY Strict liability offenses make it a crime simply to do something, even if the offender has no intention of violating the law or causing the resulting harm. 2.4 The concurrence of an unlawful act and a culpable mental state provides the third fundamental aspect of crime. Concurrence requires that the act and the mental state occur together in order for a crime to take place. 2.5