Criminal Law 5-8
right-wrong test
(also called the McNaughtan rule) the defendant suffered a defect of reason caused by a disease of the mind, and, consequently, at the time of the act didn't know what she was doing or that the act was wrong
The choice-of-evils-defense
Also called the general defense of necessity, justifies the choice ot commit a lesser crime to avoid the harm of greater crime. The defense requires proof that the defendant had no other choice. Example: violating a speed limit to get someone to the hospital and breaking and entering a cabin to avoid freezing to death.
At common law, distinctions between different parties to crimes used to be important because:
At common law, distinctions between different parties to crimes used to be important because: Distinctions between parties used to be important because of the common law rule that the government couldn't try accomplices until principals in the first degree were convicted.
In a conversation with Edward, undercover agent Demetri says words to Edward that indicate his agreement to participate in a drive-by shooting of a rival gang member. In actuality, Demetri is only making those statements in his attempt to infiltrate the gang. Which statement is true?
Edward is nevertheless guilty of conspiracy under the unilateral approach because he thought there was an agreement. If one of two conspirators secretly has no intention to go through with the agreement, the other conspirator is still a party.
What is a rule of law with regard to self-defense?
Individuals must rely on nonviolent means to prevent future attacks, and only the state can punish past attacks.
Diminished Responsibility
Is a defense of excuse in which the defendant argues "what I did was wrong, but under the circumstances, I am less responsible."
Diminished Capacity
Is a failure-of-proof defense that allows for evidence to prove that the defendant, incapable of the requisite intent of the crime charged, is innocent of that crime but may be guilty of a lesser one.
Which statement best describes conspiracy mens rea?
It varies among the jurisdictions, and courts are unclear what must be specifically intended.
The _____ test requires that attempters take enough steps toward completing the crime not to show that a crime is about to occur but to prove that the attempters are determined to commit it.
MPC substantial steps The MPC substantial steps test requires that attempters take enough steps toward completing the crime not to show that a crime is about to occur but to prove that the attempters are determined to commit it.
The right-wrong test pertaining to the insanity defense is just another name for the:
McNaughton rule. Boiled down to their essence, there are two elements to the right-wrong test (the McNaughton rule) created in McNaughton.
The Model Penal Code (MPC) approach to insanity is mainly a modification of the:
McNaughton test and irresistible impulse test. The MPC's substantial capacity test is a modification of the right-wrong test, its irresistible impulse supplement, and the psychiatric-oriented Durham rule, meant to remove the objections to these tests
Waiver to adult criminal court
Meaning the juvenile court gives up its jurisdiction over the case and turns it over to the adult criminal court
In the case of People v. Goetz (1986), the court had to determine whether:
New York's law on self-defense required objectively reasonable belief that force was necessary.
The _____ states that the crime of conspiracy and the crime the conspirators agree to commit are separate offenses.
Pinkerton rule The rule that the crime of conspiracy and the crime the conspirators agree to commit are separate offenses is called the Pinkerton rule
The _____ test asks whether defendants have reached a point where they've gotten control of everything they need to complete the crime.
The _____ test asks whether defendants have reached a point where they've gotten control of everything they need to complete the crime.
Test of Insanity
The four tests used to determine whether people with mental disease or defect should be excused from criminal liability are the right-wrong test, the irresistible impulse test, the product-of-mental-illness test, and the substantial capacity test. The right-wrong test (McNaughton rule) focuses exclusively on reason - the capacity to tell right from wrong.
Which of the following is NOT a requirement of self-defense?
You are defending against deadly force.
substantial capacity test
a person is not responsible for criminal conduct if at the time of such conduct as a result of mental disease or defect he lacks substantial capacity either to appreciate the criminality [wrongfulness] of his conduct or to conform his conduct to the requirements of law.
substantial capacity test (the MPC test)
a person is not responsible for criminal conduct if at the time of such conduct as a result of mental disease or defect he lacks substantial capacity either to appreciate the criminality [wrongfulness] of his conduct or to conform his conduct to the requirements of law.
An essential requirement of the abandonment defense to criminal attempt is that the defendant be persuaded to change his behavior by:
a voluntary change of heart. According to the voluntary abandonment defense (also called voluntary renunciation defense), defendants must voluntarily and completely renounce their criminal purpose. According to the Model Penal Code, voluntary abandonment "may be termed repentance or change of heart."
Under most modern statutes, _____ are generally treated less seriously than _____.
accessories; accomplices Punishment for accessories is less serious (usually a misdemeanor) than for accomplices, who receive the same punishment as the person who actually committed the crime.
accessory
accessory after the fact; usually a misdemeanor
In Bailey v. U.S. (1969), the U.S. Supreme Court held that Bailey was not responsible for the robbery because flight from a scene as not enough to prove:
accomplice actus reus. The court held that although flight from the scene of a crime can be taken into account, it's not enough to prove accomplice actus reus.
solicitation actus reus
acts that include some kind of inducement to commit the solicited crime
Entrapment is a(n) _____ defense.
affirmative Entrapment is an affirmative defense created by statutes; that is, defendants have to show some evidence they were entrapped
The dangerous act rationale:
aims to prevent harm from dangerous conduct
The "defense of others" defense:
allows individuals to use force to protect another when the persons being attacked could have legitimately used force to defend themselves.
If your friend robbed a convenience store, and you hid him in the basement to help him avoid the police, you'd be _____ the original crime.
an accessory after the fact to An accessory aids the person who committed the crime for the purpose of hindering the prosecution of that person (mens rea element).
Most vicarious liability cases involve:
an employer-employee relationship. Most vicarious liability involves business relationships, such as employer-employee, corporation-manager, buyer-seller, producer-consumer, and service provider-recipient
Factual impossibility occurs when _____ prevents a person from physically completing a crime.
an unknown fact or circumstance
Diminished Capacity vs. Diminished Responsibility
apply only to homicide, and most of the cases involve reducing first-degree murder to second-degree murder.
physical proximity test
asks whether defendants have come "dangerously close" to completing the crime
subjective test of entrapment
asks whether the intent to commit the crime originated with the defendant
last act rule
attempt actus reus requires all but the last act needed to complete the crime
parental responsibility statutes
based on parents' acts and omissions; differ from vicarious liability statutes, which are based on the parent-child relationship
The Model Penal Code's (MPC's) substantial steps test:
bases the law of attempt on neutralizing dangerous persons. One of the three goals of the MPC's substantial steps test is to base the law of attempt firmly on the theory of neutralizing dangerous persons, not just preventing dangerous conduct.
Jake decides to rob a bank. He arrives at the bank with his demand note in hand. Just as he is about to hand the teller the note, he notices the bank lobby is full of uniformed police officers (on their lunch break and depositing their monthly paycheck). Jake decides not to continue with his plans. Jake should:
be convicted of attempted bank robbery because an outside circumstance rather than change of heart influenced his decision to not proceed. A renunciation is not "voluntary and complete" if it is motivated in whole or in part by a circumstance that increases the probability of detection or apprehension of the defendant or another participant in the criminal operation or which makes more difficult the consummation of the crime.
A person may not use _____ to show duress in any jurisdiction.
blackmail
The cases in the text support the proposition that:
cohabitants do not have to retreat when faced with unlawful force by another cohabitant. The Connecticut Supreme Court relied on family violence to back up its creation of the cohabitant exception to the Connecticut retreat rule, even though it involved male roommates (State v. Shaw 1981)
pattern of racketeering activity
committing two or more of a huge list of related crimes
Accomplice and conspiracy cases have more than one participant and are:
completely different crimes. Accomplices are often confused with co-conspirators (Chapter 8), because both accomplice and conspiracy cases have more than one participant, but they're two completely different crimes.
The term _____ applies criminal liability to accomplices and accessories because they participate in the crime.
complicity Complicity applies criminal liability to accomplices and accessories because they participate in crimes
Voluntary consent
consent was the product of free will, not of force, threat of force, promise, or trickery
Conspiracy actus reus
consists of two parts: (1) an agreement to commit a crime and (2) an overt act in furtherance of the agreement
The subjective test of entrapment concerns whether an officer:
created intent in one who was not predisposed to commit the crime.
In a failure-of-proof scheme, defendants can present evidence that _____ about their capacity to form the intent required by the crime they're charged with committing.
creates reasonable doubt Defendants can present evidence that creates a reasonable doubt about their capacity to form the intent required by the crime they're charged with committing.
The _____ looks at how close defendants came to completing their crimes.
dangerous act rationale
The _____ concentrates on how fully defendants have developed their intent to commit their crime.
dangerous person rationale
The trend with regard to proving insanity is to require the:
defendant to bear the burden of producing evidence of insanity.
accomplice actus reus
defendant took "some positive act in aid of the commission of the offense"
The exception to the mere presence rule arises when:
defendants had a legal duty to act but failed to do so. There's one major exception to the mere presence rule: when defendants have a legal duty to act, presence alone is enough to satisfy the actus reus requirement.
perfect defenses
defenses in which defendants are acquitted if they're successful
probable desistance test
determines if defendants have gone far enough toward completing the crime that it's unlikely they'll turn back
Which of the following is not an example of a syndrome defense?
duress
You are a bank employee and are forced at gunpoint to divert funds into a special account. Failure to cooperate will result in the execution of your family. After complying, you are arrested for stealing the funds. Which defense would your attorney most likely employ?
duress In the defense of duress, defendants use the excuse that they were forced to do what they did
Vicarious corporate liability is determined by examining whether the:
employee's acts are imputed to the corporation.
Words can qualify as accomplice actus reus if they:
encourage and approve the commission of the crime.
Vicarious liability
establishes when a party can be criminally liable for someone else's conduct because of a relationship; transfers the criminal conduct of one party to another because of their relationship
By raising _____defenses, the defendant admits what he did was wrong but claims he isn't responsible for what he did.
excuse
entrapment
excuse that argues government agents got people to commit crimes they wouldn't otherwise commit
The new castle exception laws:
extend the right to use force beyond the confines of one's home.
Historically, a person could only use force to defend another person if that person was a(n):
family member.
Corporate criminal law is primarily found in
federal law Corporate criminal law began as, and still is, the creature of federal law, stemming from the "contracts" and "commerce" clauses in the U.S. Constitution.
In U.S. v. Garcia (1998), the court held that:
gang affiliation, by itself, can't form the basis of an agreement for the charge of conspiracy.
Many people believe that not guilty by reason of insanity means that defendants:
go free It's widely believed that not guilty by reason of insanity means that defendants go home; however, most defendants are locked up in maximum-security prisons called "hospitals" for a long time, often the rest of their lives.
In State v. Chism (1983), Chism was found:
guilty as an accessory after the fact for helping after his uncle killed the victim In State v. Chism, there was clearly enough evidence to justify the finding that a felony had been completed before Chism rendered any assistance to his uncle, Lloyd, so he was guilty as an accessory after the fact.
Unaware that his wife died of natural causes ten minutes ago, Al shoots into the darkened room where her body is lying. Al's intent was to kill his wife. Under these circumstances, Al is likely to be found:
guilty of attempted murder in spite of raising a factual impossibility defense A factual impossibility occurs when actors intend to commit a crime and try to, but it's physically impossible due to some fact or circumstance unknown to them.
An imperfect defense may allow a defendant to be found:
guilty on a lesser included offense
Arthur Andersen was found criminally liable because it:
had employees shred documents that were part of an investigation of Enron. Arthur Andersen, an accounting firm that acted as Enron's auditor, had its employees shred documents that were part of an investigation of Enron.
In People v. Kimball (1981), the Michigan Court of Appeals had to decide whether Kimball:
had the required intent to commit a robbery. In People v. Kimball, the Michigan Court of Appeals had to examine Kimball's claim that he didn't intend to rob the Alpine Party Store—he was only joking.
Causation
holding an actor criminally accountable for the results of her conduct
stand-your-ground rule
if you didn't start a fight, you can stand your ground and kill to defend yourself without retreating from any place you have a right to be
Racketeer Influenced and Corrupt Organizations Act (RICO)
imposes enhanced penalties for "all types of organized criminal behavior, that is, enterprise criminality—from simple political to sophisticated white-collar schemes to traditional Mafia-type endeavors"
The core of the "castle exception" is that people who are being attacked:
in their home can use deadly force to fend off the attack According to the castle exception, when you're attacked in your home, you can stand your ground and use deadly force to fend off an unprovoked attack, but only if you reasonably believe the attack threatens death or serious bodily injury (State v. Kennamore 1980, 858).
Consent is limited to four situations and includes:
injury during sporting events.
The defense of _____ intoxication is an excuse to criminal liability in all states.
involuntary
If defendants claim _____ intoxication, they have to show they didn't know they were taking intoxicants or they knew but were forced to take them.
involuntary Involuntary intoxication includes cases in which defendants don't know they're taking intoxicants or know but are forced to take them.
Individual vicarious liability differs from corporate vicarious liability in that it:
involves an individual being liable for the acts of another individual Although vicarious liability often involves large corporations, it can also apply to other enterprises, such as college fraternities, and relationships between individuals, such as making the owner of a car liable for the driver's traffic violations.
The _____ is the insanity rule that excuses a person whose mental disease makes it impossible to control their conduct.
irresistible impulse test According to the irresistible impulse test, we can't blame or deter people who because of a mental disease or defect know that what they're doing is "wrong" but can't bring their actions into line with their knowledge of right and wrong.
The "retreat to the wall" rule:
is an old common law rule. The English common law "retreat to the wall" rule required that no one could prove innocence in homicide cases unless he could prove he'd "retreated to the wall." This rule was rejected in the United States in the nineteenth century in favor of "no duty to retreat.
By raising _____ defenses, the defendant admits the responsibility for the act but claims he did the right thing.
justification
In order for consent to be a valid defense, the person who consented to the act must have given _____ consent.
knowing For consent to be a valid defense, defendants have to prove that the consent was voluntary, knowing, and authorized
George strikes out at Frank in anger, intending to hit him. George is so upset that he misses him. The strictest rule of attempt actus reus that George could be said to have met is the
last act rule The last act rule (sometimes called "all but the last act") is the strictest attempt actus reus and requires that someone has committed all but the last act necessary to complete the crime.
Insanity is a _____ term.
legal Mental disease (also called "mental illness") and mental defect are medical terms; insanity is a legal term
When using the excuse of diminished responsibility, defendants argue that, under the circumstances, what they did was wrong but they are:
less responsible In diminished responsibility, the defendant argues, "What I did was wrong, but under the circumstances, I'm less responsible."
Because it's not as bad to help someone after a crime as it is to help the person commit the crime in the first place, modern statutes have required _____ for accessories.
lesser punishment Modern statutes have reduced the punishment to fit the less serious offense of accessory after the fact; it is usually a misdemeanor
accessory liability
liability that attaches for participation after crimes are committed (prosecution for a minor offense other than the crime itself)
accomplice liability
liability that attaches for participation before and during a crime (prosecution for the crime itself)
The key to successfully raising a necessity defense is showing that the defendant:
made the right choice The choice-of-evils defense consists of proving that the defendant made the right choice, the only choice—namely, the necessity of choosing now to do a lesser evil to avoid a greater evil.
Diminished capacity is an attempt to prove the defendant:
may be guilty of a lesser crime. Diminished capacity is an attempt to prove that the defendant is incapable of the requisite intent of the crime charged and is innocent of that crime, though they may well be guilty of a lesser one
Subjective fear
means that the victim honestly feared imminent and serious bodily harm
battered woman's syndrome (BWS)
mental disorder that develops in victims of domestic violence as a result of serious, long-term abuse
In the majority of states, the defense of duress is not a defense to:
murder
The right to use force in the defense of one's person, family, habitation, lands, or goods is one of:
natural and unalienable rights. The right to use force in the defense of one's person, family, habitation, lands, or goods is one of the natural and unalienable rights of man.
The defense of duress includes the _____ as an element.
nature of the threat
principle of legality
no one can be convicted of, or punished for, a crime unless the law defined the crime and prescribed the punishment before the person engaged in the behavior that was defined as a crime
The mens rea required for accomplice liability is:
not established because different courts have ruled differently on it. The mens rea required for accomplice liability has not been established, because the ruling has been different among courts. Further confusion arises because both recklessness and negligence can satisfy the mens rea requirement
Syndrome defenses are generally:
not successful at trial Defendants rarely plead syndrome defense as an excuse, and defendants rarely succeed when they do plead syndromes and other "abuse excuses."
The use of the insanity defense can be raised in _____ crimes.
only property only assault only murder The insanity defense can be raised in all crimes, not just murder cases. In one jurisdiction, slightly less than one-third of the successful insanity pleas entered over an eight-year period were in cases involving a victim's death.
Racketeering
original meaning was the extortion of money or advantage by threat or force; now the meaning has expanded to include a pattern of illegal activity (such as extortion and murder) carried out in the furtherance of an enterprise owned or controlled by those engaged in the activity
Generally, parents are held liable for the behavior of their children through _____ statutes.
parental responsibility Parental responsibility statutes are based on parents' acts and omissions; these differ from vicarious liability statutes, which are based on the parent-child relationship.
Accessories
participants after crimes are committed
Accessories before the fact
persons not present when the crimes are committed but who help before the crime is committed (for example, someone who provided a weapon used in a murder)
Accessories after the fact
persons who help after the crime is committed (harboring a fugitive)
The _____ test of attempt actus reus focuses on what actors still have to do to carry out their purpose to commit crimes, not on what they've done already to commit them.
physical proximity The dangerous proximity to success test (also called the physical proximity test) asks whether defendants have come "dangerously close" to completing the crime.
The Model Penal Code's approach to the actus reus of attempt would not include:
possession of a map of the general vicinity of the place to be held up. The MPC lists seven acts that can amount to "substantial steps" if they strongly corroborate the actor's criminal purpose to commit the intended crime. A map of the general vicinity of the place to be held up does not meet the requirement that the material can serve no lawful purpose.
In most states, collecting, possessing, or preparing materials used to commit a crime is:
preparation but not attempt.
In most jurisdictions, legal impossibility is a defense to attempt, because to convict someone for conduct that the law does not prohibit violates the:
principle of legality To convict someone for conduct that the law doesn't prohibit, no matter what the actor's intentions, violates the principle of legality—no crime without a law, no punishment without a crime.
The _____ test focuses on how far defendants have gone, not on what's left for them to do to complete the crime.
probable desistance
solicitation mens rea
requires words that convey that their purpose is to get someone to commit a specific crime
Incomplete criminal conduct poses a dilemma: whether to punish someone who's done no harm or to set free someone who's determined to commit a crime. One of the ways the law of inchoate crimes resolves the dilemma is by:
requiring some action to carry out the crime.
Corporate liability can be inferred from the acts of its officers through the doctrine of:
respondeat superior. According to respondeat superior, corporate employees' acts are imputed to the corporation.
The retreat rule requires that you must:
retreat if you reasonably believe you are in danger of serious bodily injury.
In the matter of self-dense, an imminent danger of attack means the time for defense is:
right now.
Historically, corporations relied on _____ to assure compliance with the law.
self-regulation During most of the twentieth century, the belief that self-regulation is the best model to make sure that corporations are meeting their obligations to shareholders and the public prevailed.
Specific attempt statutes
separate statutes that define attempts in terms of specific crimes in the criminal code, such as attempted murder, attempted robbery, and attempted rape—crimes that involved a specific intent
Accessory liability, which means participation after the crime has been committed, is prosecuted as:
separate, minor crime. Participation after crimes are committed (accessory liability) is prosecuted as a separate, minor offense (accessory to murder)
Al asks Sam to kill his wife. Sam agrees to kill her, buys the gun, but does not follow through. Under these circumstances, a _____ exists.
solicitation If Sam agrees to kill her and buys the gun but doesn't follow through, Al and Sam have committed conspiracy to commit murder.
Al jokingly asks Sam to kill his wife, which Sam declines to do. Under these circumstances, Al has committed:
solicitation to commit murder. The crime of solicitation is complete the instant the solicitor communicates the solicitation to the other person.
principle of concurrence
some mental fault has to trigger the criminal act in conduct crimes and the cause in result crimes
In some states and the federal courts, the verbal agreement to commit a crime is not sufficient to constitute a conspiracy. Those states require:
some overt act in furtherance of the crime.
According to the _____, the defense has to prove the government pressured the defendants to commit crimes they wouldn't have committed without the pressure.
subjective test of entrapment According to the subjective test of entrapment, the defense has to prove the government pressured the defendants to commit crimes they wouldn't have committed without the pressure.
Under the Model Penal Code test of insanity, a person is not responsible for criminal conduct if, because of a mental disease or defect, the person lacks the _____ to appreciate the criminality of the act or conform conduct to the requirements of law.
substantial capacity As the name "substantial capacity test" indicates, defendants need not lack total mental capacity; the test adds the word "substantial capacity" to remove the possibility of requiring "total lack of reason" (the "wild beast") cognition test
One common feature found in each of the primary tests of insanity employed by the states is whether the defendant:
suffered from a mental disease or defect. Four tests determine whether people with mental disease or defects aren't responsible enough to blame and punish (i.e., whether they're excused from criminal liability)
MPC substantial steps test
test that requires that attempters take enough steps toward completing the crime to prove that they're determined to commit it
In using self-defense or defending others, a person can use:
the amount of force reasonably believed necessary, including deadly force.
If someone is attempting to take another's property, the owner can use _____ he or she reasonably believes is necessary to prevent someone from taking the property.
the amount of nondeadly force
Conspiracy
the crime of agreeing with one or more people to commit a crime
Pinkerton rule
the crime of conspiracy and the crime the conspirators agree to commit are separate offenses
solicitation
the crime of trying to get someone else to commit a crime.
Conspiracy mens rea
the mental element in conspiracy, frequently identified as specific intent by authorities, but it's not defined clearly in statutes and it's defined inconsistently by courts
The choice-of-evils defense is most similar to self-defense and defense of others because it involves at its core:
the necessity to prevent some sort of imminent harm.
The punishment for accomplice liability is _____ the punishment for the original crime
the same as Participation before and during a crime (accomplice liability) is a very serious business, because the punishment for being an accomplice is the same as for the person who actually committed the crime.
Necessity means:
the time for defense is right now.
The common law divided children into three categories for the purpose of deciding:
their capacity to commit crimes.
Vicarious liability transfers the actus reus and the mens rea from one person to another person—or from one or more persons to an enterprise—because of:
their relationship. Vicarious liability transfers the actus reus and the mens rea from one person to another person—or from one or more persons to an enterprise—because of their relationship.
Which of the following cannot be the basis of accomplice liability?
thoughts supporting the criminal actions Accomplice actus reus requires the defendant to take "some act in aid of the commission of the offense" [emphasis added]
Affirmative defenses require the defendant:
to put on some evidence supporting a justification or excuse
In State v. K.R.L. (1992), the court held that K.R.L. was _____ to have committed the offense.
too young to have the capacity In State v. K.R.L., the court held that there was not sufficient evidence to support that the eight-year-old defendant had the capacity to form the intent to commit burglary.
The _____ examines whether an ordinary person who saw the defendant's acts without knowing his intent would believe he was determined to commit the intended crime.
unequivocality test The unequivocality test, also called the res ipsaloquiter test ("the act speaks for itself"), examines whether an ordinary person who saw the defendant's acts without knowing his intent would believe he was determined to commit the intended crime.
The rule of defense of property and habitation used in most states is that one may:
use reasonable force, including deadly force, to defend one's home, but only nondeadly reasonable force to defend one's property.
In State v. Ulvinen (1981), the defendant was not found liable as an accomplice after-the-fact because she:
was the defendant's mother, and the statute excluded parents from liability. In State v. Ulvinen, the defendant was insulated by statute from guilt as an accomplice after-the-fact by helping her son after the murder because of her relation as a parent of the offender
irresistible impulse test
we can't blame or deter people who, because of a mental disease or defect know, that what they're doing is "wrong" but can't bring their actions into line with their knowledge of right and wrong
castle exception
when attacked in your home, you have no duty to retreat and can use deadly force to fend off an unprovoked attack, but only if you reasonably believe the attack threatens death or serious bodily injury
judicial waiver
when juvenile court judges use their discretion to transfer a juvenile to adult criminal court
According to the _____, if attackers completely withdraw from attacks they provoke, they can defend themselves against an attack by their initial victims.
withdrawal exception