Question | Answer |
Legislative | Makes the laws |
Executive | Enforces the laws |
Judicial | Interprets the laws |
NORMS | UNDERLIE AND ARE INHERENT IN THE FABRIC OF SOCIETY (SOCIAL CODE) |
MORALS | ETHICAL PRINCIPLES, OR PRINCIPLES MEANT TO GUIDE HUMAN CONDUCT AND BEHAVIOR; PRINCIPLES OR STANDARDS OF RIGHT AND WRONG |
MORES | UNWRITTEN, BUT GENERALLY KNOWN, RULES THAT GOVERN SERIOUS VIOLATIONS OF THE SOCIAL CODE |
aka. Private law | Common Law |
aka. Criminal law | Public Law |
Evolved from early English law | Common Law |
Earliest type of Law | Common Law |
Stare Decisis means: | Let the decision stand |
Common law that is in effect today is known as: | Statutory law |
Written law, codified-handed down by legislature | Statutory law |
Precedent used in determining statues | Statutory law |
Allows for consistency amongst all courts | statutory law |
The legal rules and principles that define the nature and limits of governmental power and the duties and rights of the individuals in relation to the state | Constitutional Law |
Sources of criminal law: | Statutory and Constitutional law |
Based on customs, usages, and moral concepts of the people | Common Law |
Defines the standards of conduct that society requires | Substantive Law |
Defines crimes and specific punishments | Substantive Law |
Established standards necessary to preserve order and protect rights | Substantive Law |
A judicial requirement that enacted laws may not contain provisions that result in unfair, arbitrary, or unreasonable treatment of an individual | Substantive Law |
Considered to be the supreme law of the land | Constitutional Law |
Establishes justice and insure domestic tranquility | Constitutional Law |
Restricts governments from infringing on individual rights | Bill of Rights |
Justice for the individual | Bill of Rights |
Right to Due Process | Bill of Rights |
Advocates the protection of personal freedoms | Bill of Rights |
Refers to broad legislative power of the STATE to pass laws that promote the public health, safety, and welfare | Police Power |
The power of every state and local government to enact criminal laws (maintain public order)(Conformity to specified groups of norms) | Police Power |
Not law, but rather a set of guidelines | Model Penal Code |
Four states of mind: purposely, knowingly, recklessly, negligently | Model Penal Code |
A private or civil wrong done to a person or their property | Tort |
Imprisonment for greater than 1 year | Felony |
Imprisonment for less than 1 year | Misdemeanor |
Guilty act | Actus Reus |
Guilty Mind | Mens Rea |
The combination of Mens Rea and Actus Reus | Concurrence |
Action taken to achieve goal | Purposeful |
Action taken with awareness of the probable result | Knowing |
Action that consciously disregards a substantial risk | Reckless |
Negligent | Failure |
Guilty mind, evil intent, criminal purpose, and knowledge of wrongfulness of conduct | Mens Rea |
The degree of blameworthiness assigned to a defendant by criminal court and the extent to which the defendant is subject to penalizes prescribed by the criminal law | Criminal Liability |
Degree of knowledge that makes an individual legally responsible for the consequences of his or her act | Scienter |
A violation of law for which one may incur criminal liability without fault or intention | Strict Liability Crime |
The state has no obligation to prove criminal intent. It must only prove that the defendant committed the act | Strict Liability Crime |
Victim must die within a year and a day for defendant to be charged with murder | Year and a Day Rule |
Illegal drugs, concealed weapons, instrumentalities, stolen property | Possession Alone as Crime |
Direct physical contact, on or around his person | Actual |
Not in actual possession, but who has power and intention to later take control over something | Constructive |
Increasing the punishment "after the fact" | Ex Post Facto |
A retroactive criminal statute | Ex Post Facto |
A legislative act that inflicts punishment without the benefit of a trial | Bill of Attainder |
Cannot create a legislative act which inflicts punishment on a person who has not had a prior trial. The US Constitution forbids it. | Bill of Attainder |
"Body of Crime" | Corpus Delicti |
The facts that show that a crime has occured | Corpus Delicti |
A criminal conviction cannot be based solely on a confession or admission of the accused | The Corpus Delicti Rule |
Prohibits unreasonable searches and seizures and requires any warrant to be judicially sanctioned and supported by probable cause | Fourth Amendment |
Imposes restrictions on the government's prosecution of persons accused of crimes. It prohibits self-incrimination and double jeopardy and mandates due process of law | Fifth Amendment |
The rights of criminal defendants, including the right to a public trial without unnecessary delay, the right to a lawyer, the right to an impartial jury, and the right to know who your accusers are and the nature of the charges and evidence against you | Sixth Amendment |
In crimes in which there is harm, the court must show that the harm resulted in some way from the criminal act or omission | Proximate Cause and Causation |
A person who accidentally or unintentionally causes death while committing a felony can be charged with murder | Proximate Cause and Causation |
A method for determining causality that holds "without this, that would not be" or "but for the conduct of the accused, the harm in question would not have occurred." | The "But For" Rule |
Invalidates laws that are written in such a manner that it is difficult to determine whether or not the defendant has engaged in conduct that is prohibited by the law | Void for Vagueness Doctrine |
An unfinished or partially finished crime that generally leads to another crime | Inchoate Crimes |
Sometimes referred to as an "Anticipatory Offense" | Inchoate Crimes |
One person, with intent that another person commit a crime, entice, advise, incite, order, or otherwise encourage that person to commit a crim | Solicitation |
Combination between 2 or more persons for the purpose of accomplishing an unlawful act | Conspiracy |
Any act in furtherance of the conspiracy | Overt Act |
Criminal Liability of one party for the criminal acts of another party | Vicarious Liability |
This rule state that conspiracy cannot be charge if the number of person involved is only the number necessary to commit the crime | Wharton Rule |
Dueling, bigamy, gambling, adultery, incest, pandering, receiving a bribe are examples of: | Wharton Rule |
A person engage in conduct which tends to effect the commission of such crime | The Crime of Attempt |
The intent to do an act or bring about certain consequences which would amount to a crime | Attempt |
Doing some act in pursuance of that objective which goes beyond preparation | Attempt |
Conduct showing the firmness of the defendant's criminal intent | Substantial Step |
An act or omission that may be part of a series of acts or omissions demonstrating behaviors and or conduct that would result in the commission of a crime | Mere Preparation |
It fails to meet the requirements for the Substantial Step Test | Mere Preparation |
Person who actually committed the crime | Principle in the 1st degree |
Person who was present at commission of crime | Principle in the 2nd degree |
Person was not involved in planning the crime | Principle in the 2nd degree |
Person aided or abetted in actual commission of the crime | Principle in the 2nd degree |
Person aided in preparation for the crime | Accessory Before the Fact |
Person not actually present during the commission of the crime | Accessory Before the Fact |
Person knew crime had been committed and gave aid to person who committed the crime | Accessory After the Fact |
Parties to a crime | Common Law 1760's |