Chapter 5

1. Chapter 5 Mens Rea

2. Chapter Summary • What is mens rea? • Criminal Intent • Strict Liability • Concurrence • Causation Lippman, Contemporary Criminal Law, Second Edition

3. Introduction • Mens rea is criminal intent. • Required for a crime to occur. • Must be paired with actus reus • Both the act and intent must be proved beyond a reasonable doubt for a conviction in court. • Intent is required to hold accountable only individuals who are “morally blameworthy” • A.K.A. scienter, guilty knowledge Lippman, Contemporary Criminal Law, Second Edition

4. Criminal Intent • Three reasons for prosecuting the “morally blameworthy” • hold defendants responsible for their acts • deter future criminal acts • allows punishment to be proportional to the crime committed Lippman, Contemporary Criminal Law, Second Edition

5. Criminal Intent, cont. • Common law provided two categories • general: intent to carry out an act • specific: intent to carry out an act with specific results • Specific intent crimes are referred to crimes of cause and result Lippman, Contemporary Criminal Law, Second Edition

6. Criminal Intent, cont. • Transferred Intent • an individual intends to cause harm to one person and injures another • Constructive Intent • an individual acts in a grossly and wantonly reckless manner Lippman, Contemporary Criminal Law, Second Edition

7. Model Penal Code • Four types of intent • purposely • knowingly • recklessly • negligently Lippman, Contemporary Criminal Law, Second Edition

8. Strict Liability • An offense that does not require intent • Only an act is required • Strict liability offenses posses a danger to a large number of people. Lippman, Contemporary Criminal Law, Second Edition

9. Strict Liability, cont. • The risk of convicting an innocent is outweighed by the public interest in preventing social harm. • Punishments are relatively minor. • Convictions do not harm defendants’ reputation. • Acts that most people avoid • Those that do engage in these acts usually do possess criminal intent. Lippman, Contemporary Criminal Law, Second Edition

10. Concurrence • The link required between the criminal act and intent • Must be proved beyond a reasonable doubt • Chronological Concurrence • intent must exist at the same time as the act Lippman, Contemporary Criminal Law, Second Edition

11. Legal Equation Lippman, Contemporary Criminal Law, Second Edition

12. Causation • The criminal act must cause a particular harm or result. • Must be proved beyond a reasonable doubt • Important to ensure individual responsibility • Important to ensure fairness of punishment Lippman, Contemporary Criminal Law, Second Edition

13. Causation, cont. • The act must be the cause is fact of the harm • the “but for” test • OR the act must be the legal or proximate cause of harm • Intervening causes of harm may remove responsibility from the defendant. • coincidental intervening acts • responsive intervening acts Lippman, Contemporary Criminal Law, Second Edition

14. Legal Equation Lippman, Contemporary Criminal Law, Second Edition

15. Legal Equation Lippman, Contemporary Criminal Law, Second Edition