Criminal Law Study Guide

Criminal Law Study Guide 1

1. Q: Why do we have criminal law? A: To punish those who commit crimes.
2. Q: What is judicial review? A: Allows appellate courts to interpret the acts and events that occur in the other two branches, as well in lower courts.
3. Q: Jurisdiction- how does it work and what does it do? A: The lawful right of the legislative, executive, or judicial branch to exercise official authority.
4. Q: Codified Law- A: When a state has reduced their customs, unwritten laws, and rules to written statutes.
5. Q: Sources of Law- A: Four sources- Statutes, constitutions, judicial decisions, and administrative regulations.
6. Q: Elements of a crime- A: 1. A criminal act. 2. A criminal state of mind. 3. Concurrence of a criminal act and a criminal state of mind. 4. Causation.
7. Q: Thought police- A: People who aim to suppress ideas that deviate from the way of thinking that they believe to be correct.
8. Q: Status punishments- A: Punishment equal to the social status of the perpetrator.
9. Q: Are there times where you are legally required to act? A: Good Samaritan laws are laws or acts offering legal protection to people who give reasonable assistance to those who are injured, ill, in peril, or otherwise incapacitated.
10. Q: Intent- A: The willful commission of an act. Mens rea- “Guilty Mind”
11. Q: Liability without fault- A: Three categories: Strict liability (statutory rape), Vicarious liability (culpability for the acts of another), and Enterprise liability.
12. Q: Inchoate crime- A: Crime of preparing or seeking to commit another crime.
13. Q: What constitutes an attempted crime? A: Two parts: 1. A criminal intent 2. A criminal act. An attempt includes a lack of the consummation of the intended act.
14. Q: Facilitating a crime- A: Aiding and abetting a criminal. (Helping it happen)
15. Q: Elements of a conspiracy- A: Two acts: 1. A criminal act, which may be an agreement. 2. A criminal intent.
16. Q: What the Wharton Rule? A: Individuals are not held criminally culpable as accomplices when they assist to commit crimes. (Prostitutions, which requires two parties)
17. Q: RICO- Who can it or can’t it prosecute? A: (Racketeer Influenced and Corrupt Organization Act) Mainly used to prosecute organized crime. Also can prosecute doctors, lawyers, labor unions, and government officials.
18. Q: Purpose of law, Civil or criminal? A: To control behavior to protect the interests of society and of individuals.
19. Q:Punishment Laws- A:
20. Q: Goals of punishment, Retribution. A: Retribution- Public or legal revenge. Permits society’s governing body to impose punishment on criminal offenders.
21. Q: Dram shop laws. A: Holds bar owner accountable for personal harm inflicted on someone by an intoxicated person (or minor) that was at their bar. (paraphrased)
22. Q: Where do we get law from? A: English common law.
23. Q: Who decides to prosecute? A:
24. Q: Moral turpitude- A: Conduct that is considered contrary to community standards of justice, honesty or good morals.
25. Parole “Good time credit” Can a state do away with it? A: No it can’t. Because, prisoners need to have a goal look forward to. Without the possibility of parole, there is no incentive to have good behavior.
26. Double Jeopardy- Know the elements. A:
27. What crimes are subject to execution? A: Murder
28. Q: Solicitation- A: The inciting, ordering, requesting, or enticing of another person to commit a crime.
29. Substantial Step- A: Some overt act which in the ordinary and likely course of things will result in, the commission of the particular crime
30. Q: Legal Impossibility- A: When a person believes she is committing a crime, but the act is, in fact, lawful.
31. Q: Accomplices Liability (elements)- A: Three elements: 1. Whether it is necessary to find the principal guilty before convicting the accomplice. 2. The act. 3. The mental state.
32. Q: RICO- A: pg 78
33. Q: What’s a Racket? A: Organized crime to obtain an illegal goal by means of threats.
34. Q: Equal Protection- A: Everyone is afforded the same protection under the law.
35. Q: Inquisitorial system, Adversarial system- A: Inquisitorial: Legal system where the court or a part of the court is actively involved in investigating the facts of the case.
A: Adversarial: The role of the court is primarily that of an impartial referee between the prosecution and the defense.