2. In general, for an act to be a crime in U.S. criminal
justice systems, four elements must be present:
1. A criminal act
2. A criminal state of mind
3. Concurrence of a criminal act and a criminal stte of
mind
4. Causation
ELEMENTS OF A CRIME
3. 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
ELEMENTS OF A CRIME: A CRIMINAL ACT
(ACTUS REUS)
4. 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)
ELEMENTS OF A CRIME: A CRIMINAL ACT
(ACTUS REUS)
5. 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
ELEMENTS OF A CRIME: A CRIMINAL ACT
(ACTUS REUS)
6. 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
ELEMENTS OF A CRIME: A CRIMINAL ACT
(ACTUS REUS)
7. 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
ELEMENTS OF A CRIME: A CRIMINAL INTENT
(MENS REA)
8. 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
ELEMENTS OF A CRIME: A CRIMINAL INTENT
(MENS REA)
9. 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
ELEMENTS OF A CRIME: A CRIMINAL INTENT
(MENS REA)
10. 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
ELEMENTS OF A CRIME: A CRIMINAL INTENT
(MENS REA)
11. General principle that mens rea and actus reus must coincide
Must be evidence that the criminal act is the result of the
mens rea
ELEMENTS OF A CRIME: THE CONCURRENCE
OF A CRIMINAL ACT AND A CRIMINAL INTENT
12. 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
ELEMENTS OF A CRIME: CAUSATION
13. 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
ATTENDANT CIRCUMSTANCES
14. 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
LIABILITY WITHOUT FAULT
15. 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
LIABILITY WITHOUT FAULT: STRICT LIABILITY
16. 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
LIABILITY WITHOUT FAULT: VICARIOUS
LIABILITY
17. 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
LIABILITY WITHOUT FAULT: ENTERPRISE
LIABILITY
18. 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
LIABILITY WITHOUT FAULT: ENTERPRISE
LIABILITY
19. 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
LIABILITY WITHOUT FAULT: ENTERPRISE
LIABILITY