Our Criminal Law

1. Our Criminal Law Chapter 5

2. Criminal Law Lesson 5-1

3. Goals • Define the elements present in all crimes • Describe crimes that commonly occur in the business environment

4. What are crimes? • Punishable offense against society • Defined by statutes (laws enacted by state or federal legislatures) • Society (through police/prosecutors) attempt to identify, arrest, prosecute, and punish the criminal • Criminal and civil offenses are not the same • Civil - against just the victim (not society)

5. Elements of a Crime • Before anyone can be convicted of a crime, 3 elements must be proved at trial • a duty to do or not to do a certain thing • an act or omission in violation of that duty • criminal intent

6. Duty • State statutes usually describe duty • Less frequent - federal statutes or city ordinances • To establish duty in trial, the prosecutor cites a statute to the judge

7. Violation of the Duty • The specific conduct that violates the statute is the criminal act • All states have statutes that makes battery a crime • “the intentional causing of bodily harm to another person” • Prove? • Testimony of a witness

8. Criminal Intent • Means the defendant: • intended to commit the act and • intended to do evil • Deliberately punch someone • Accidentally fall and hit someone

9. Criminal Intent (cont) • Can Corporations form criminal intent like humans can? • YES • If the criminal act benefits the organization, most courts will find criminal intent • When a corporate employee commits a crime, can officers be held criminally responsible? • YES • Liable under the doctrine of vicarious criminal liability

10. Criminal Intent (cont) • Vicarious Criminal Liability • Substituted criminal liability • The criminal intent of the employee is used as a substitute for the requirements of criminal intent for an officer • The president knows of dangerous working conditions but does not report them • Homicide

11. Criminal Intent (cont) • Related to age (early common law) • Under 10 – below the age of reason • Incapable of having the criminal intent necessary • Over 14 – know the difference between right and wrong • Accountable as adults • Ages 7-14 criminal intent has to be proved • Today, most states fix the age to 18 (range from 16-19)

12. Criminal Intent (cont) • One must have sufficient mental capacity to know the difference between right and wrong • Insane person • Not held responsible • Voluntary intoxication or use of drugs does not relieve a person

13. Criminal Intent (cont) • Not all crimes require criminal intent • Less serious crimes where being sentenced to jail is unlikely • Traffic offenses • Exception – extreme carelessness • 80mph through a neighborhood drunk and kill someone • You may not have intended to speed or do evil • So careless it could be treated as criminal intent • Vehicular homicide

14. Criminal Intent (cont) • Embezzlement • Taking of another person’s property or money by a person to whom it has been entrusted

15. Criminal Conduct Crimes against: • A person (assault and battery, kidnapping, rape, murder) • Property (theft, robbery embezzlement) • The government and administration of justice (treason, tax invasion, perjury) • Public peace and order (rioting, disorderly conduct, illegal speeding) • Realty (burglary, arson, criminal trespass) • Consumers (fraudulent sale of securities, violation of pure food and drug laws) • Decency (bigamy, obscenity, prostitution)

16. Classification of Crimes • Felonies • Crime punishable by confinement for more than a year in a state prison or by a fine or more than $1,000, or both – or even death • Murder, kidnapping, arson, rape, robbery, burglary, embezzlement, forgery, theft of large sums, and perjury • Perjury • Crime of lying under oath

17. Classification of Crimes (cont) • Misdemeanor • Less serious crime • Punishable by confinement in a county or city jail for less than one year, by fine, or both • Disorderly conduct and speeding • Infractions • Minor misdemeanor • Can only be fined (no risk of jail) • Parking violations and littering

18. Business-Related Crimes • White-collar crimes • Offenses committed in the business world • No not involve force or violence • Do not cause injury to people or cause physical damage to property • Examples • Evading income taxes, defrauding consumers, cheating with false weighing machines, conspiring to fix prices, false insurance claims, false advertising, committing bribery, engaging in political corruption, and embezzling • Fines and short prison sentences because no physical violence

19. Business-Related Crimes (cont) • Antitrust Laws • Laws that prohibit competing companies from price fixing or dividing up sales regions

20. Business-Related Crimes (cont) • Larceny (theft) • The wrongful taking of money or personal property belonging to someone else, with the intent to deprive the owner of possession • Shoplifting, pickpocketing, and purse snatching • Felony or Misdemeanor (determined by value of property) • Robbery (variation of larceny) • The taking of property from another’s person or immediate presence, against the victim’s will, by force or by causing fear • Burglary (variation of larceny) • Entering a building without permission when intending to commit a crime FELONIES

21. Business-Related Crimes (cont) • Receiving stolen property • the one who receives stolen property is known as a fence • False Pretense – One who obtains money or other property by lying about a past or existing fact (type of fraud) • Forgery – falsely making or materially altering a writing to defraud another (felony) • Bribery – unlawfully offering or giving anything of value to influence performance of an official (accepting a bribe is also criminal activity)

22. Business-Related Crimes (cont) • Computer crime • Extortion (blackmail) – obtaining money or other property from a person by wrongful use of force, fear, or the power of office • Conspiracy – an agreement between two or more persons to commit a crime • The conspiracy is a separate crime from the crime that the parties plan to commit • Arson – The willful and illegal burning of a building