Criminal Law: Actus Reus & Mens Rea

Actus Reus (Common Law)

• External or physical part of a crime causing social harm.
• Criminal liability requires a voluntary act.
• A voluntary act is a willed muscular contraction initiated by the brain and transmitted via nerves to the limbs.
• Omission involves failure to act when a legal duty exists, like in statutory, familial, contractual duties, or situations where one voluntarily assumes duty or creates risk of harm.
• Possession can be actual (physical control) or constructive (intent to control).

Mens Rea (Common Law)

• Mental state required for conviction.
• Specific Intent: Mens rea required by the statute.
• Includes contemplated conduct (intending a secondary act) and contemplated impact (hoping or intending a future effect stated in the offense).
• Knowledge: Awareness of one or more elements pertaining to the defendant.

Actus Reus (Model Penal Code)

• A person isn't guilty of an offense unless liability is based on conduct including a voluntary act.
• Includes voluntary act, omission, and possession (actual or constructive).

Mens Rea (Model Penal Code)

• Mental state is needed for conviction.
• Purpose involves acting with intent to cause a specific outcome.
• Knowledge involves knowing a specific outcome is certain to happen.
• Recklessness: Knowing that a risk exists and acting anyway.
• Negligence: Ignoring or not knowing of a risk a reasonable person would have known.
• Stated Mens Rea: Applies to all material elements of an offense if the statute specifies one, unless otherwise indicated.
• Willful Blindness: Knowledge can be established if a person is aware of a high probability of a fact's existence but doesn't believe it exists.
• Recklessness as Default: If the statute doesn't specify mens rea, recklessness is the default standard. Requires significant fault, more than foresight of risk; ignoring the risk must be a gross deviation from expected care.

Justification (Common and MPC)

• Self Defense:
• Must be immediately necessary
• Must be necessary to prevent death or harm.

General Intent

• Recklessness: Knowing the risk exists, acting anyway.
• Negligence: Ignoring or not knowing of a risk that a reasonable person would have known.

Mistake

• Mistake of Law: Claiming ignorance of the law or wrongly assuming the law did not apply to a situation is not a defense if it concerns the criminality of the act.
• Mistake of Fact: May exculpate a defendant.
• Specific intent: if the jury is persuaded that the Δ has made a mistake that negates the specific intent element.
• General intent: requires the jury to determine whether the mistake was reasonable or unreasonable. Reasonable mistake entitles the defendant to a defense. Unreasonable mistake establishes culpable mental state.

Other Defenses (Common and MPC)

• Duress: Provides defense to crime(s) with threat of injury present, apparent, or impending. Must have a well-grounded fear, be harsh and immediate. There must be No opportunity to escape is reasonable. Actor can not expose themselves to duress and actor cannot be at fault for exposing themselves to duress.
• Insanity - Not Guilty by Reason of Insanity: A person is not responsible for criminal conduct if, as a result of mental disease or defect, they lack substantial capacity to appreciate criminality or conform conduct to law. Includes lacking capacity to appreciate the wrongfulness of their actions and lacking substantial capacity to conform conduct to the requirements of the law.

Partial Self Defense:

• Reckless or negligent killing in self-defense reduces first-degree murder to manslaughter.

Attempt

• Conduct must strongly corroborate the actor's criminal purpose to be considered a substantial step.
• The act or omission should show what has already been done.
• Not applicable to felony murder or depraved heart murder.
• Merger of Attempt: Attempt merges into the completed crime if the felony is carried out.

Necessity

• Lesser of two evils: When faced with a choice of two evils, choose the lesser.

M'Naughten Test

• In regards to criminal insanity, it focuses mainly on whether the defendant knew the nature and quality of the act, or that the act was wrong.

Inchoate Offenses:

• Proximity Test: overt act must be proximate to the completed crime and requires to amount to beginning to complete the crime.
• Unequivocality Test: The actor's conduct must be unambiguous.

Abandonment

• Voluntary: Actor must decide to stop the attempted crime.
• Defense to a charge of attempt.
• Involuntary: When an external force stops the commission of the attempt. A not a defense.

Solicitation

• Commands, encourages, or requests another to engage in specific conduct that would constitute a crime or attempt.
• Merger: solicitation may merge into conspiracy.
• Mens Rea: Intent that another will commit the crime.

Conspiracy:

• When one person enters into an agreement with another to commit a crime
• Liability attaches as soon as the agreement, intent to accomplish the illegal objective.
• Defense to Conspiracy: Affirmative defense if the actor thwarted the conspiracy with voluntary renunciation. Notifying law enforcement and persuading co-conspirators is required.

Mens Rea:

• Intent to engage in the conduct and intent to cause the outcome.

Solicitation:

• Occurs when someone suggests committing a crime.
• Punishable at the attempt to solicit another persons participation.

Pinkerton Rule

• The overt act of one co-conspirator may be the act of another as long as the conspiratory acts are in furtherance of the conspiracy.

Complicity

• A person is legally accountable for the conduct of another person whom causes the offender.
• Same kind of mens rea as the primary actor.

Actus Reus:

• Primary actor is the one committing the crime.
• and will always be at the scene of the crime.
• Secondary actor is the one aiding the commission of the crime.
• Aiding and abetting, assisting, soliciting, encouraging, psychological influence.
• Must be presence plus. Omission may qualify when the individual has a duty to do something.

Model Penal Code Murder

• Criminal homicide constitutes murder when it is committed purposely or knowingly or it is committed under circumstances manifesting extreme indifference to human leaving. Extreme Mental and Emotional Disturbance:
• homicide that is committed under the influence of an extreme mental or emotional disturbance for which there is a reasonable explanation or excuse.
• Extreme recklessness is non-conclusively presumed if the killing occurred while the defendant was engaged in or was an accomplice in the commission or attempted commission of, or flight from, one of the felonies enumerated in the statute.

Common Law Murder

• Killing of one human being by another with malice aforethought
• Express malice- intent to kill another
• Implied Malice: Intent to inflict grievous bodily injury

First Degree Murder

• Is Intent to kill coupled with premeditation and deliberation
• the design or pre-conceived plan to kill
• deliberation which is the cool reflection of the pros and cons.

Common Law Manslaughter

• Killing of one human being by another without malice aforethought
• Voluntary Manslaughter - Intentional Killing w/ provocation
• Involuntary manslaughter - Reckless or negligent killings

Possession

• Actual: The item must be within the defendant's physical control.
• Constructive: when the defendant lacks actual possession but knowingly has the power and the intention to exercise dominion and control over the item

Robbery

• A person is guilty of robbery if, in the course of committing a theft he: Inflicts serious bodily injury, threatens another, or commits a felony

Burglary

• A person enters a building or occupied with the purpose to commit a crime.
• Actus Reus: enters, circumstances: building or occupied structure
• purpose to commit a crime is additional mens rea that does not modify internal elements

Larceny

• One type of theft
• involves unlawful taking, theft by decption, or theft by extortion
• Moveable property: if unlawfully take or exercises control ever the movable property of another (w/ purpose to deprive)
• Immovable property: if unlawfully transfers immovable property