NG Bar Part I Criminal Law flashcards

32 cards. Read the term and the definition here. The deck at the top of this page is optional.

Actus reus

The physical element of a crime: a voluntary act, or an omission where a legal duty to act exists, such as a statutory duty, contract, or relationship creating dependence.

Mens rea

The mental state required for a crime, commonly purpose, knowledge, recklessness, or negligence; the prosecution must prove the level the statute specifies for each element.

Specific intent

A mental state requiring intent to achieve a further consequence beyond the act itself, as in burglary, larceny, or attempt; voluntary intoxication may negate it.

Malice crime

A crime requiring reckless disregard of a high risk of harm, such as murder or arson; it lies above negligence but below specific intent in the mens rea hierarchy.

Strict liability

An offense requiring no mens rea for any element; the defendant is guilty upon proof of the actus reus, and mistake of fact or intoxication provides no defense.

Transferred intent

A doctrine attributing the defendant's intent to harm one person to the actual victim harmed, preserving liability for both the intended and the actual victim's injury.

Actual cause

The but-for cause of a result: the harm would not have occurred absent the defendant's conduct; it is the threshold causation inquiry before proximate cause.

Proximate cause

A cause that is a direct and foreseeable consequence of the defendant's conduct; an unforeseeable intervening act breaks the chain of causation and relieves liability.

Omission liability

Liability for failing to act arises only where a legal duty exists, created by statute, contract, relationship, voluntary assumption of care, or creation of the peril.

Conspiracy

An agreement between two or more persons to commit an unlawful act with intent to achieve it, plus an overt act where required; it does not merge into the completed offense.

Bilateral conspiracy

A conspiracy approach requiring at least two genuinely agreeing parties; if one party is a feigning police officer, no conspiracy exists under this approach.

Unilateral conspiracy

A conspiracy approach requiring only one genuine party with criminal intent; a feigning officer's agreement does not defeat the defendant's conspiracy liability.

Withdrawal from conspiracy

An affirmative act communicating withdrawal to all co-conspirators; it defeats liability for subsequent crimes but not for the conspiracy itself or prior acts.

Attempt

Specific intent to commit a crime plus a substantial step beyond preparation; factual impossibility is no defense, but legal impossibility and true abandonment may be.

Solicitation

Asking another to commit a crime with intent that the person do so; it is complete upon the request and merges into the completed offense.

Accomplice liability

Liability for aiding or abetting a crime with intent to facilitate it, extending to crimes that are the natural and probable consequence of the aided offense.

Accessory after the fact

A person who assists a felon after the crime with knowledge of it, intending to hinder apprehension; liability is separate and typically less severe.

Self-defense

Reasonable force against an imminent unlawful threat; deadly force is allowed only against a threat of death or serious bodily harm, and the aggressor must first withdraw.

Imperfect self-defense

An honest but unreasonable belief that force was necessary; it negates malice and reduces murder to voluntary manslaughter rather than excusing the killing.

Duress

A defense where a threat of imminent death or serious harm compels the crime; it excuses all offenses except intentional homicide in most jurisdictions.

Necessity

A defense where the defendant chooses a lesser harm to avoid a greater one; it is unavailable where the defendant created the danger or caused a homicide.

M'Naghten test

An insanity test excusing a defendant who, because of mental disease, did not know the nature of the act or did not know it was wrong.

MPC insanity test

A test excusing a defendant who, due to mental disease, lacks substantial capacity to appreciate the wrongfulness of conduct or to conform to law.

Voluntary intoxication

A defense only to specific intent crimes, where it negates the required intent; it never excuses malice, general intent, or strict liability offenses.

Mistake of fact

A defense when the mistake negates the mens rea required for the crime; a reasonable mistake may also negate malice or general intent.

Mistake of law

Generally not a defense; it applies only where the statute requires knowledge of the law or where it negates a specific intent element.

First-degree murder

A killing that is premeditated and deliberate, or committed during an enumerated felony; deliberation requires cool reflection, not merely a momentary intent.

Felony murder

A killing during an inherently dangerous felony, limited to foreseeable deaths, with an independent felony and liability for co-felons under agency or proximate cause rules.

Voluntary manslaughter

A killing committed in a heat of passion upon adequate provocation or under imperfect self-defense; malice is negated, reducing the offense from murder.

Involuntary manslaughter

A killing committed with criminal negligence or during a misdemeanor; it requires no intent to kill and carries lesser punishment than murder.

Larceny

Trespassory taking and carrying away of another's personal property with intent to permanently deprive; the intent must exist at the time of taking.

Robbery

Larceny from the person or presence of another by force or threat of immediate force; the force must be used to obtain or retain the property.