Criminal Law Terms

1. Criminal Law Terms Gotta know these to know what you’re talking about

2. What makes a crime a crime? • The thing necessary to make a crime a crime is a “guilty state of mind” • Guilty State of Mind: knowing an act is prohibited and knowingly doing it anyway • In court, proving this is called “showing intent” • Just being careless is not a guilty state of mind (apartment fire example)

3. motive • Motive is WHY a crime was committed. It is not the same as intent. Example: Mr. Crowder is fired by Mr. Schacherer and then plans to hit him over the head with a hammer. When Mr. Crowder bought a hammer and snuck up behind Mr. Schacherer with it, that proves intent. The fact that Mr. Crowder was fired is the motive. • Intent has to be proven in court. Motive does not. On TV it seems like cops/prosecutors need to know and show what the motive is. That is not true. It is a nice thing to know, and juries like knowing it. But proving motive is NOT necessary to prove someone guilty of a crime.

4. Strict liability crimes • There are a very few crimes where intent does not need to be proven. These are called “strict liability” crimes. • Example: You don’t need to know someone’s age to be guilty of selling alcohol to a minor (which is why they check IDs). Or you don’t need to know HOW drunk you are to be guilty of drunk driving.

5. elements • Every crime has parts called “elements” that must be proven individually in order to prove the crime took place. Example: Robbery must include (I) the taking of property or money (II) from someone’s person (III) by use of force or intimidation

6. State and federal crimes • The difference between a State crime or a Federal crime has nothing to with how bad the crime is, only where the crime took place. State crimes are prosecuted in state courts by state judges. Federal crimes are prosecuted in Federal courts by Federal judges. In general, Federal punishments are harsher • Almost all crimes are state crimes • A Federal crime • Is against the government itself (like tax evasion) • Occurs on Federal land (like killing someone in Yellowstone National Park) • Occurs in multiple states at the same time (like Internet fraud)

7. Classes of crimes • Felony– where the potential penalty is more than a year of incarceration • Misdemeaner– where the potential penalty is less than a year of incarceration • Jail– located in a city, for “short term” like misdemeaners, or while awaiting trial • Prison– located in rural areas, for “long term”

8. Parties to crimes • Principal– the person who commits the crime • Accomplice– a person who helps before, during, and after a crime • Accesory Before the Fact – helped before the crime • Accesory After the Fact– helped after the crime

9. Preliminary crimes • Sometimes the planning of a crime is a crime in and of itself. • Solicitation– To ask, urge, advise, or command someone to commit a crime for you. The two most common examples are Solicitation of Murder (paying a person to kill someone for you) and Solicitation of Prostitution (the crime of prostitution falls on the prostitute. Offering to pay a prostitute for their services is the crime of solicitation).

10. More preliminary crimes • Attempt– Trying to perform all of the elements of a crime, but failing the execute the crime itself. Examples: trying to shoot and kill someone, but missing. Or intending to burn down someone’s house but being arrested on the way there with a map and trunk full of gasoline. Pg. 105 • Conspiracy– An agreement between two or more people to commit a crime. This is usually the charge against the top tier of a drug cartel get charged with. It would be the main charge also against a “terrorist network”.