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INTRODUCTION TO CRIMINAL LAW

INTRODUCTION TO CRIMINAL LAW. CHAPTER 8. Discussion. Should a person’s intentions matter in deciding if he or she committed a crime? For example, should it matter if an act was done on purpose? If it was done when a person was being reckless? If it was done when a person was enraged?.

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INTRODUCTION TO CRIMINAL LAW

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  1. INTRODUCTION TO CRIMINAL LAW CHAPTER 8

  2. Discussion • Should a person’s intentions matter in deciding if he or she committed a crime? For example, should it matter if an act was done on purpose? If it was done when a person was being reckless? If it was done when a person was enraged?

  3. Crimes are characterized by three elements: • 1. The crime itself • 2. Most crimes require a guilty state of mind. • 3. Motive • All three elements must be proven at a trial before you can be convicted. • If all three elements are obtained that means you are not a…….

  4. SMOOTH CRIMINAL!!

  5. State of Mind • STATE OF MIND- THE PERSON KNOWINGLY COMMITS THE CRIME • When a person commits an act intentionally, knowingly, or willingly they have a guilty state of mind. • ELEMENTS- THE VARIOUS ASPECTS OF THE CRIME • Every element of a crime must be broken before a person has a guilty state of mind.

  6. Motive • The reason a person commits a crime. • Even if a person’s intentions are good when they commit a crime, if they are committing it knowingly, they are guilty of the crime.

  7. Strict Liability • Some crimes are considered criminal even if you don’t have a guilty state of mind. • Ex. Selling alcohol to a minor is illegal even if the person selling the alcohol is not aware of the person’s age.

  8. PARTIES TO CRIMES: • 1. PRINCIPAL- THE PERSON WHO COMMITS THE CRIME • 2. ACCOMPLICE- THE PERSON WHO HELPS COMMIT THE CRIME • 3. ACCESSORY BEFORE THE FACT- A PERSON WHO HELPS THE PRINCIPAL OR ACCOMPLICE COMMIT THE CRIME BUT IS NOT PRESENT WHEN THE CRIME TAKES PLACE

  9. 4. ACCESSORY AFTER THE FACT- THE PERSON WHO HELPS THE PRINCIPAL OR ACCOMPLICE AFTER THE CRIME HAS BEEN COMMITTED • CRIMES OF OMISSION- IS WHEN A PERSON FAILS TO PERFORM AN ACT REQUIRED BY CRIMINAL LAW

  10. Do Not Copy • Your two buddies are going to break into a warehouse that holds untold riches.  You’re going to sit across the street with cell phone in hand.  Another buddy is going to be on top of a building behind the warehouse, also with cell phone in hand.  Your jobs are to text your friends inside if cops show up.  You guys got this thing figured out right good.

  11. Your boys enter.  You’re watching YouTube and looking around.  A second-story office light goes on.  Some guy walks by the window.  You text, “guy 2d floor front.”  The light goes out and you trace his movements for a little bit as hallway lights go on then off.  “moving. dunno where,” you text. • Then you hear it.  A gunshot muffled by the building, but clearly a gunshot.  You take off.  You think you hear another gunshot or two as you run, but you’re not sure.  Cue theme song for Law & Order.

  12. The owner of the warehouse took the first shot in the chest.  One of your buddies took two in the stomach.  Your other buddy took off.  It took the cops less time than it takes to make a pot of coffee to check your dead buddy’s cell phone, see your texts, trace it to you, and show up at your mom’s house. • And – sucks for you – the owner bled out.  Died. • What crimes will each person be charged with?

  13. Let’s look at the criminal landscape.  Your second buddy inside the warehouse is picked up – cameras and a little police footwork.  Your buddy behind the warehouse is on the street.  Charges on the table begin with Burglary graded as an F1 (even though the warehouse was not furnished for overnight accommodation, there was a person present – if not, it’d be an F2).  How’s the homicide going to be handled?  Murder 2 – Felony-Murder Rule.

  14. Now we have the players.  Your buddy that went inside committed Burglary.  Can’t argue that, right?  He entered the premises of another with the intent to commit a crime therein.  Slam dunk.  Now it gets interesting.  He was there when the homicide happened.  He didn’t pull the trigger, but he was there – standing right next to your now-dead friend.  The death happened in the course of an inherently violent felony.  The mens rea transfers to the homicide.  He’s down for Murder 2.

  15. But then we have you.  You never entered the building.  You didn’t even know your buddy was packing.  You should just get, um, something, but nothing big, right?  It is to laugh. • You’re toast. • You actively participated in the commission of the crime.  Your boys would not have gone in without lookouts.  That’d be dumb.  The commission of the crime actively needed you.  You were present at the scene of the crime.  You see that?  Now, maybe a long time ago we’d look at your lesser role and charge/sentence you accordingly, but those days are so far gone nobody remembers them or why we’d do anything different than we do now.

  16. An Accomplice is equally guilty as the Principal.  The Principal entered the building; the Accomplice did not.  The Principal pulled the trigger; the Accomplice did not.  Doesn’t matter.  Toast. • Toast on Burglary.  Toast on Murder 2.

  17. Here’s a checklist for you: • A crime was committed by another person • The defendant “aided, counseled, commanded or encouraged” the other person in the commission of the criminal offense. • The defendant acted for the purpose of helping or encouraging the other person to commit the crime • The defendant acted with at least the same mental state required for the commission of the crime.

  18. Who can be involved but not be an Accomplice?  An Accessory.  An Accessory had to help in some way – the Principals borrowed your gun, for example.  You had to know the crime was going to be committed.  You had to have helped in some material manner.  An Accessory Before the Fact – before the crime was committed – can be held equally liable as if they were present at the time of the crime.  An Accessory After the Fact – you didn’t know anything about the crime, but then helped them get rid of evidence afterward – is generally not hit as hard.

  19. The best thing to do when you get anywhere near a crime is to get as far away as possible.  And the closer you are – even if you weren’t directly involved – may require you to inform the police of the planned crime in order to wash yourself of liability. • There’s an old saying – The longer you hang out at a barber shop, the more likely you are to get your hair cut.  Stay away from criminals, stay away from crime, and life will be less complicated.

  20. SOLICITATION- IS ASKING, ADVISING, URGING, OR COMMANDING SOMEONE TO HELP WITH THE CRIME • ATTEMPT- AN EFFORT TO COMMIT A CRIME

  21. CONSPIRACY- IS AN AGREEMENT BETWEEN 2 OR MORE PERSONS TO COMMIT A CRIME

  22. OVERT ACT- in criminal law, an action which might be innocent itself but if part of the preparation and active furtherance of a crime, can be introduced as evidence of a defendant's participation in a crime. • Example: Rental of a van, purchase of explosives, obtaining a map of downtown New York City and going back and forth to the World Trade Center, could each be considered overt acts as part of the terrorist bombing of that building.

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