1. Elements of a Crime
Chapter 2

2. Elements of a Crime
In general, for an act to be a crime in U.S. criminal justice systems, four elements must be present:
A criminal act
A criminal state of mind
Concurrence of a criminal act and a criminal stte of mind
Causation

3. Elements of a Crime: A Criminal Act (actus reus)
Wrongful deed that, if combined with other elements of a crime, may result in the legal arrest, trial, conviction, and punishment of the accused
Open to interpretation as to what constitutes as act
Does not include thoughts without action
Many reasons as to why
Most states require a voluntary act or failure to act

4. Elements of a Crime: A Criminal Act (actus reus)
The Exclusion of Involuntary Conduct
Involuntary acts not considered criminal but may result in civil liability
Criminal culpability
Being guilty or at fault
Exclusion of Status
General principle a person may not be punished for a status (drug addicts, etc.)
Robinson v. California (1962)

5. Elements of a Crime: A Criminal Act (actus reus)
Proof of an Act
May be difficult to prove an act occurred even when it did
Must be sufficient evidence to prove the existence of a criminal act
Possession as an Act
In some cases, possession is an act
Alone may not be sufficient for a successful prosecution
Generally interpreted as conscious possession

6. Elements of a Crime: A Criminal Act (actus reus)
Criminal Failure to Act
Omission or failure to act may only constitute an act for purposes of criminal culpability when there is a legal duty to act
Failure to exercise due care may constitute a tort
Tort
Literally means a wrong
Some are also crimes
Requiring people to take affirmative action to aid others creates problems

7. Elements of a Crime: A Criminal Intent (mens rea)
State of mind referring to the willful commission of an act or the omission of an act one has a legal duty to perform
Mens rea
Guilty mind
One of the most difficult elements of a crime to interpret and apply
Historically was divided into two types
Specific
General

8. Elements of a Crime: A Criminal Intent (mens rea)
The Model Penal Code utilizes four levels of intent
Purposefully
Consciously intended to engage in a criminal act or bring about a particular result
Knowingly
Practically certain that a particular result would follow an act
Recklessly
Acting knowingly in that a state of awareness of risk is involved but is of a probability less than substantial capacity
Negligently
Act that a reasonable person would not do, or would not fail to do under similar circumstances
Act must be grossly negligent in criminal law to be considered a crime

9. Elements of a Crime: A Criminal Intent (mens rea)
Problems of Interpretation
Model Penal Code has been widely adopted
Problems with interpretation of levels of culpability exist
Important to understand impossibility of stating what is meant by intent
Necessary to analyze carefully prior interpretations of a statute
Necessary to consider intent element in terms of state and federal constitutional law

10. Elements of a Crime: A Criminal Intent (mens rea)
Proving Criminal Intent
The law permits an inference of intent from relevant facts
If sufficient circumstantial evidence is presented, jury may be permitted to infer intent from that evidence
Intent must be distinguished from motive
The why of a defendant’s actions
In general, state not required to prove motive

11. Elements of a Crime: The Concurrence of a Criminal Act and a Criminal Intent
General principle that mens rea and actus reus must coincide
Must be evidence that the criminal act is the result of the mens rea

12. Elements of a Crime: Causation
Must be shown that the act caused the injury, death, or property damage sustained by victim
Causation is complicated term
Generally court is looking for legal cause
Alleged criminal act may not be legal cause
If criminal act is substantial factor contributing to harm, it may be judged legal cause
Intervening act may also be judged legal cause of harm
Also possible act not caused by offender may combine with offender’s act(s) to produce harmful result

13. Attendant Circumstances
Some crimes have additional element (or elements) that must be proved
Attendant circumstances
Facts surrounding an event
Criminal act may not be prosecuted as a crime unless specified circumstances co-exist with act and guilty mind

14. Liability Without Fault
Criminal culpability is imposed in some situations even if no fault or evil intent can be shown on part of accused
Categories justified on grounds that:
In many cases, only minor penalties are applied
Proof of intent is difficult if not impossible to obtain
Criminal culpability is essential for compensation of victims as well as for deterrence of others
Three types
Strict liability
Vicarious liability
Enterprise liability

15. Liability Without Fault: Strict Liability
Legal concept that holds defendants responsible for wrongful acts even when they are not guilty of negligence, fault, or bad faith
Some crimes include:
Selling alcohol to minors
Statutory rape
Sexual intercourse, or in some jurisdictions, other sexual acts as well, with an underage person even if that person allegedly consented
Use of strict liability for this crime is an exception to rationale of minor penalties applied

16. Liability Without Fault: Vicarious Liability
Dispenses with the requirement of actus reus and imputes criminal act of one person to another
Often used for employer-employee situations
Whether employer can be held responsible in criminal as well as civil law is determined by law of jurisdiction in which employment occurred and specific facts of case

17. Liability Without Fault: Enterprise Liability
The process of holding an entire business enterprise legally liable for an event
Under common law, corporations could not be charged with crimes
Rested on argument that corporations had no mind and no body
No intent, no imprisonment
As criminal law broke from this position, first penalties were criminal fines

18. Liability Without Fault: Enterprise Liability
Today, most courts rule they can be held criminally culpable for criminal acts or omissions
Upheld by U.S. Supreme Court
New York Central and Hudson River Railroad Co. v. United States (1909)
Limitations do exist
Employees must be acting within the scope of their employment
Cannot be held liable for crimes whose punishments only provide for death or imprisonment

19. Liability Without Fault: Enterprise Liability
A previously successful argument by corporations that they should be liable only for property crimes has been challenged
Granite Construction Co. v. Superior Court (5th Dist. 1983)
Reasonable to expect more prosecutions under this theory of criminal culpability