Criminal Justice 9 5 14 Law Types of Law and Crime Law body of rules which defines which behaviors are forbidden Civil Law all law that is not criminal Ex marriage property issues examples such as issues between landlord or tenants or if a person is injured on their property torts contracts commercial law Criminal Law the body of rules that defines crimes sets out their punishments and mandates the procedures in carrying out the criminal justice system Crime as defined by criminal law an intentional act or omission or an act in violation of criminal statutes committed without defense or justification and sanctioned by the state as either a felony or a misdemeanor INTENTIONAL you knew that you were doing it and intended to do Not justified absolutely no reason that you had to do it Beyond a reasonable doubt standards that have to be met to show that a person is guilty of committing the crime Standard to show someone is guilty in a civil case preponderance of the evidence Felony a more serious offense that carries a penalty of incarceration in a state prison usually for one year or more More serious than a misdemeanor Capital Felony punishable by death or life imprisonment Does a person convicted of a felony offense lose any rights Can lose the right to vote for the rest of your life can t run for any offices can t carry a firearm maintain certain licenses Misdemeanor a minor offense usually punishable by less than one year s imprisonment on a local institution such as a county jail Criminal Law cases are a person against the state Civil Law cases are person against person Standard of Evidence Beyond a Reasonable Doubt 4 required elements ALL MUST BE PROVEN 1 Actus Reus guilty act 2 Mens Rea guilty mind 3 Concurrence relationship between guilty act and guilty mind shows the relationship between the state of mind and the actual action committed 4 Causation harm has been done actions or inactions The Guilty Act Actus Reus Includes Aggressive action Inaction failure to act Ex of legal duty parent child physician patient contractual relations Legal duties 1 Relationship of parties based on status 2 Husband wife parent child Imposition by statue Laws that require a person who observes an act to aid 3 Contractual relationships Physician patient babysitter child The Guilty Mind Mens Rea Law acknowledges four types of intent a General Intent b Specific Intent c Constructive Intent Malice d Transferred Intent also called bad aim General Intent Only requires that a defendant know in general terms that the type of conduct in which he she is engaged even if the actor does not foresee the result that the conduct may produce Direct evidence is rare specific intent Specific Intent Direct evidence of the person s state of mind Requires that the actor have formed the intent in his her mind in specific conduct to cause a particular result Very detailed I will do this at this time in this manner with these tools etc Constructive Intent Malice and information The prosecutor is going to construct intentionally around the circumstances Reckless conduct or irrational behavior leads to the prosecutor being able to construct that the criminal had intention No rational person would carry out the action Transferred Intent bad aim The theory of transferred intent has been in criminal law for a long time If a man shoots an arrow at another with intent to kill one person but it accidentally kills someone else the law will transfer the intent from the intended person to the other person who was accidentally killed Basically the law will act as though the intention was always pointed towards the person killed even if it is an accident Transfer not only from one person to another person but from one felony to another too Felony murder doctrine ex if someone is raping robbing etc a person and kills them even if it wasn t their intention they will be prosecuted for murder as if that was their original intention Mens Rea Cont Summary Degrees gradation of mental fault Crime Tort Barrier 1 Negligent lesser degree 2 Recklessly 3 Knowingly 4 Purposely stronger degree Only one of these four has to be established Standard of Evidence Both guilty mind and guilty act must be proven But the exception strict liability crimes These do not require mens rea liability without fault Example public welfare crimes that statutes prohibit such as traffic laws Strict Liability Crimes certain public welfare ex handgun possession and sexual offenses ex statulatory rape that do not require proof of mens rea Establishes the relationship between the act and the mind Guilty mind guilty act Concurrence Causation Determination of cause in fact or proximate cause eliminating other rival causes Linking the harm to the cause Addressing the question Would the harm have occurred if not for the action inaction of another Simple Formula act intent concurrence causation injury harm prohibited act crime