CA CLS Criminal Law key terms

The physical or external component of a crime: a voluntary act, an omission where a legal duty exists, or a state of being that the statute prohibits.

The mental state or guilty mind the prosecution must prove for a given offense, such as purpose, knowledge, recklessness, or criminal negligence.

A bodily movement performed consciously and by effort of the will; reflexive movements, unconscious acts, and acts during automatism are generally not voluntary.

A duty imposed by statute, contract, relationship, voluntary assumption of care, or creation of peril that can make a failure to act criminal.

A failure to perform an act one is legally required to perform, treated as a criminal act only when a duty to act exists and breach causes harm.

A crime requiring proof that the defendant intended the precise result or acted with a particular purpose, such as burglary or larceny.

A crime requiring only that the defendant intended to commit the act itself, without intending a specific further consequence.

A doctrine attributing an intent to harm one person to the actual victim, preserving liability when the defendant strikes an unintended target.

An offense for which no mental state must be proved as to at least one element, usually regulatory or public welfare offenses like statutory rape.

A mistaken belief about a fact that negates the required mental state; a reasonable mistake may defeat general intent, while an unreasonable one may defeat specific intent.

Ignorance or misunderstanding of the law, generally not a defense, except where it negates a required mental state or reliance on an official interpretation is reasonable.

The link between conduct and a prohibited result, requiring both actual cause (but-for) and proximate cause, which asks whether the result was foreseeable.

The but-for cause: the harm would not have occurred in the absence of the defendant's conduct, even if other causes also contributed.

A cause legally sufficient to impose liability because the resulting harm was a foreseeable consequence of the conduct, not an extraordinary intervening event.

An event occurring after the defendant's conduct that contributes to the harm; it breaks the chain of causation only if unforeseeable or abnormal.

An incomplete crime requiring intent to commit the target offense plus an act that goes beyond mere preparation, often measured by the substantial step test.

The modern test for attempt: conduct strongly corroborative of the firm intent to complete the crime, more than remote preparation.

A situation where the completed act would not constitute a crime even if all facts were as believed; traditionally a defense to attempt.

A situation where the defendant's goal is a crime but completion fails due to an unknown fact, such as an empty pocket; generally not a defense.

Voluntary withdrawal from an attempted crime before completion, which may be a defense if fully voluntary and complete, not merely postponed.

Asking, encouraging, or commanding another to commit a crime with the intent that the crime be committed; complete upon the request.

An agreement between two or more persons to commit an unlawful act, plus intent to agree and intent to achieve the objective, often requiring an overt act.

An act performed in furtherance of a conspiracy; many statutes require at least one such act by any conspirator for liability.

A rule holding a conspirator liable for substantive crimes committed by co-conspirators that are reasonably foreseeable and in furtherance of the conspiracy.

Liability for a crime based on aiding, abetting, encouraging, or facilitating it with the intent that the crime be committed.

A person who, knowing a felony was committed, assists the offender to avoid arrest or prosecution; punished separately, usually less severely.

The person who actually commits the criminal act or who is present and aids in its commission, distinguished from accessories.

The use of reasonable force to protect oneself from an imminent unlawful threat, available only when the defender is not the initial aggressor.

A defense reducing murder to voluntary manslaughter where the defendant honestly but unreasonably believed force was necessary.

The degree of force a reasonable person would believe necessary under the circumstances; deadly force is limited to threats of death or serious bodily harm.

Force intended or likely to cause death or serious bodily injury, generally justified only against an imminent threat of the same magnitude.

The justified use of force to protect a third person from imminent unlawful harm, generally judged by the defender's reasonable belief.

The use of reasonable, non-deadly force to prevent trespass or dispossession of property; deadly force is generally not permitted solely to protect property.

A defense excusing criminal conduct that was reasonably necessary to avoid a greater harm, unavailable when the defendant created the emergency.

A defense based on coercion by an imminent threat of death or serious bodily harm that a person of reasonable firmness could not resist.

A defense excusing criminal responsibility where mental disease or defect prevented the defendant from understanding conduct or conforming to law.

The insanity standard asking whether mental disease or defect left the defendant unable to know the nature of the act or that it was wrong.

The insanity standard excusing conduct when mental disease or defect substantially impaired the capacity to appreciate wrongfulness or conform to law.

Evidence of mental impairment offered not to excuse the crime but to negate the specific mental state required for the charged offense.

Voluntary intoxication may negate specific intent but is not a defense to general intent or strict liability; involuntary intoxication may excuse entirely.

A defense where government agents induce a person to commit a crime the person was not predisposed to commit.

The unlawful killing of a human being with malice aforethought, which may be express, implied, or supplied by intent to cause serious harm or reckless disregard.

The mental state for murder: intent to kill, intent to cause serious bodily harm, reckless indifference to an unjustifiably high risk, or felony-murder intent.

A rule imposing murder liability for a death occurring during the commission of an inherently dangerous felony, usually with limits on underlying felonies.

A felony that by its nature poses a substantial risk of death, qualifying as a predicate for felony murder under most statutes.

The rule that an assaultive felony merges into a homicide and cannot serve as the predicate for felony murder.

An unlawful killing without malice, either voluntary (heat of passion or imperfect defense) or involuntary (criminal negligence or misdemeanor).

A killing committed in the heat of passion upon adequate provocation or under an honest but unreasonable belief in self-defense.

An unintentional killing resulting from criminal negligence or during the commission of a malum in se misdemeanor.

A sudden emotional disturbance caused by adequate provocation that negates malice, reducing an intentional killing to voluntary manslaughter.

The trespassory taking and carrying away of personal property of another with intent permanently to deprive, a specific intent crime.

Larceny from the person or presence of another by force or threat of force, requiring a taking and use of intimidation.

Breaking and entering the dwelling of another at nighttime with intent to commit a felony therein; modern statutes often broaden the elements.

The fraudulent conversion of property lawfully in the defendant's possession but owned by another, distinguished from larceny by lawful initial custody.

Obtaining title to property of another by an intentional false statement of past or existing fact, with intent to defraud.

Either an attempt to commit battery or an intentional act placing another in reasonable apprehension of imminent harmful or offensive contact.

The unlawful application of physical force to another or offensive contact, committed intentionally or with criminal negligence.

The requirement that crimes be defined by clear statute before conduct occurs, barring retroactive and vague criminal laws.

A due process doctrine invalidating statutes that fail to give fair notice of prohibited conduct or invite arbitrary enforcement.

A statute that criminalizes conduct retroactively, increases punishment after the fact, or alters evidentiary rules to the defendant's disadvantage; unconstitutional.