Criminal Law: Crime Categories and Elements

Criminal Law

• Crime constitutes an action violating federal, state, or local criminal laws.
• Only the government can file criminal charges.
• Criminal cases go to trial before civil cases against the same defendant.
• Criminal law seeks jail time, fines, and/or fees as punishment.

Crime Categories

• Felonies are more serious than misdemeanors and are classified by class or degree to denote the severity.
• Punishment depends on the category of crime and varies by state; heinous crimes may result in the death penalty.
• Businesses can face fines and other penalties; employees may face jail time.
• Those convicted of felonies may be barred from owning firearms or holding public office.

Elements of Crimes

• Criminal negligence can be charged if the defendant should have been aware of the risks of their actions, even without intending harm.
• To convict, the government must prove beyond a reasonable doubt that the accused committed the crime (actus reus) with the necessary intent or state of mind (mens rea).
• Businesses can be convicted of crimes and held liable for the actions of employees within their job scope.

Constitutional Rights

• The Fifth Amendment protects against self-incrimination.
• Miranda Rights must be read to individuals accused of a crime or held in suspicion while in custody.
• Miranda Rights include the right to remain silent and the right to legal representation. Statements made can be used against you in court.

Defenses

• A case can be dismissed if the statute of limitations has expired.
• An alibi can raise doubt in the minds of jurors.
• Affirmative defenses (intoxication, insanity, or self-defense) can prevent conviction even if prosecutorial claims are true.
• Entrapment occurs if law enforcement lures someone into committing a crime they had no intention of committing.

Evidence

• Strict standards govern the gathering and presentation of evidence.
• Illegally obtained evidence is excluded under the exclusionary rule.
• Warrants are required for searches and seizures, issued by a judge based on probable cause.
• An arraignment involves the accused appearing in court, being informed of charges, and entering a plea.
• A plea bargain may be attempted; the defendant pleads guilty or no contest for a reduced punishment.

Criminal Case Discovery

• Parties conduct independent investigations.
• Witness and exhibit lists are exchanged right before the trial.
• The prosecution must disclose exculpatory evidence to the defendant.

Criminal Trial

• The defendant must be found guilty beyond a reasonable doubt.
• Double jeopardy prevents a second trial for the same crime if the defendant is found innocent.
• A mistrial results if the jury cannot agree on a verdict, and the prosecutor decides whether to proceed again.

White Collar Crimes

• Antitrust violations involve illegally restraining trade and promoting anti-competitive behavior, such as price-fixing.
• Bankruptcy fraud includes hiding or lying about assets in a bankruptcy proceeding.
• Bribery involves offering or taking money to influence official actions or decisions.
• Counterfeiting involves copying items without authorization (money, designer clothing, trademarks, and copyrights).
• Credit card fraud entails the unauthorized use of a credit card.
• Computer and Internet fraud includes credit card fraud, unauthorized access to financial records, and unauthorized use of a company's computer.
• Economic espionage involves the theft or misuse of valuable business information, like trade secrets.
• Embezzlement occurs when a person in a position of trust takes money or property for their own use.
• Environmental law violations include illegal hazardous waste dumping and illegal handling of hazardous substances.
• Financial fraud applies to banks and financial institutions, e.g., in providing loans or mortgages.
• Government fraud governs contracts between the government and public agencies.
• Healthcare fraud includes over-billing and scams by hospitals, doctors, and pharmacies.
• Insider trading occurs when a person trades a security while possessing material, non-public information.
• Insurance fraud includes charging higher rates than allowed, lying about property conditions, and claim padding.
• Mail fraud involves sending fraudulent materials through the U.S. Postal Service.
• Money laundering involves hiding the origins of money, especially from illegal activities.
• Tax evasion includes failure to file returns, failure to report income, and overstatement of expenses.
• RICO (Racketeer Influenced & Corrupt Organizations Act) provides a weapon against organized crime.
• Telephone & Telemarketing fraud involves using the telephone to defraud victims into sending money.

Business Torts

• A tort is a civil wrong between two or more parties, where a plaintiff seeks remedies from a defendant.
• Torts compensate injured parties for wrongfully inflicted injuries.
• Remedies aim to restore the injured party to their original position through monetary damages, specific performance, or injunctions.
• The three categories of torts are negligence, intentional, and strict liability.

Negligence-Based Torts

• Negligence is unintentional careless conduct that creates an unreasonable risk of harm to others.
• Successful negligence cases require proving duty, breach, cause, and harm.
• Gross negligence involves carelessness in reckless disregard for the safety of others, potentially leading to punitive damages.

Duty of Care

• Plaintiffs must prove the wrongdoer owed them a duty of care.
• The Reasonable Person Standard dictates acting as persons in the community ought to behave.
• Professionals held to the standard a reasonably skilled, competent, and experienced person in that profession would follow.

Breach of Duty

• Plaintiffs must prove the duty of care was breached by act or omission of the wrongdoer.

Cause

• Plaintiffs must link the breach of duty to the harm.
• Cause in Fact: The injury would not have occurred "but for" the wrongdoer's conduct.
• Proximate Cause (Foreseeable Cause): The wrongdoer is responsible for harms they could have foreseen.
• Res Ipsa Loquitur: Negligence is inferred because the event speaks for itself.
• Substantial Factor Test: Determines if the action was a substantial factor in bringing about an injury, used in toxic injury cases.
• Intervening Conduct: An unforeseeable act breaks the causal connection to the injury.
• Danger Invites Rescue: The negligent party is liable for losses suffered by those attempting rescue.

Harm = Injury

• Plaintiffs must demonstrate harm occurred to succeed in a negligence case.

Defenses to a Negligence Action

• Assumption of Risk: The injured party knew, or should have known, of the risk and voluntarily assumed it.
• Comparative Negligence: Damages are reduced by the percentage of the plaintiff's own negligence.
• Modified Comparative (50% rule): Plaintiffs at 50% fault recover nothing.
• Modified Comparative (51% rule): Plaintiffs at 51% fault recover nothing.
• Contributory negligence (used in few states): If the plaintiff is even 1% negligent, they recover nothing.

Intentional Torts Against Persons (NOT NEGLIGENCE)

• These involve intentional actions.
• Assault: Intent to place the plaintiff in fear of immediate bodily harm or offensive contact.
• Battery: Intentional physical contact without consent, even without causing injury.
• False Imprisonment: Intentional holding, detaining, or confinement that violates a person’s freedom.
• Intentional Infliction of Emotional or Mental Distress: Outrageous conduct intended to cause severe distress.
• Invasion of Privacy: Intent to infringe on a person’s right to privacy.
• Defamation: Intentional false communication that injures a person’s reputation; slander is spoken, libel is written.

Possible Defenses to Intentional Torts

• Consent given by the plaintiff.
• Self-defense to protect oneself.
• Defense of others/property, with force proportional to the threat.
• Truth is a defense to defamation.

Strict Liability

• Liability for abnormally dangerous activities, even with utmost care.
• Examples include explosive storage, demolition, and hazardous chemical waste disposal.

Public Control of Real Property

• Real Property: Land, including things under (minerals) and attached (buildings).
• Personal Property: Moveable, weighable objects.
• Lien: A creditor's legal interest in property when they are owed money.
• Eminent Domain: The government's power to take private property for public use with just compensation.
• Easement: The right to use someone's land for a specified purpose.
• State and local governments have police powers and can regulate property through zoning ordinances.
• Regulatory Taking: Government regulations limit land use, depriving owners of economically reasonable use.

Torts Against Property

• Trespass to Land: Unauthorized intrusion by a person or thing on land belonging to another.
• Trespass to Personal Property: Interference with an owner's right to exclusive possession of tangible, moveable property.
• Conversion: Serious interference with personal property, depriving the owner of its use for an extended period.

Intellectual Property (IP)

• Intangible property created by mental effort.
• Includes trademarks, copyrights, and patents.
• Generally governed by federal laws.

Trademark (™)

• Word, name, symbol, or combination identifying a product's manufacturer.
• Protected under the federal Lanham Act.
• Registration with the Patent and Trademark Office grants exclusive use of the mark.
• Classifications:
  • Arbitrary and Fanciful: Most protected; inherently distinctive, creative.
  • Suggestive: Highly protected; hints at the product, needs a leap in thought.
  • Descriptive: Less favored: Protection needs proof of secondary meaning.
  • Generic: Not protected; common words.
• Descriptive terms with a secondary meaning can receive trademark protection when tied to a specific product.
• Trademarks remain protected when used for commercialized purposes.
• Trademark Infringement: Seller causes confusion about a product's origins by using a trademark improperly.
• Trademark Dilution: Similar use of a famous mark dilutes the distinctive quality.
• Cybersquatting: Registering domain names to profit from the goodwill of someone else's trademark.
• Counterfeiting: Fraudulent copying of a trademark without authority.
• Trade Dress: The look and feel of a product.
• Trade Names: The name of a business practice.
• Goodwill: Value generated by a company’s established reputation.

Copyright

• Exclusive right to use an original expression preserved in a tangible form.
• Applies to books, art, music, and computer programs.
• Protected under the Copyright Act of 1976.
• Term of Protection: The author’s life plus 70 years
• Rights: Reproduce, publish/ distribute, display in public, perform in public, or prepare derivative works.

Patents

• Exclusive right to own and use an invention or design.
• Granted on a first-to-file basis.
• Good for 20 years after filing.
• Can be a process, machine, article of manufacture, composition of matter, or improvement.

Trade Secrets

• Formula, pattern, device, or information providing a business advantage.
• Examples: KFC's spice blend, Coca-Cola's recipe.
• Protected if not known by competitors, gives the business an advantage, and protected from disclosure.
• Theft can result in criminal and tort claims.