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United States Criminal Law
Responsibility for criminal law and criminal justice in the United States is shared between the states and the federal government. Parties to a crime The parties or participants in a crime include the principal and accessory. A principal is a person directly involved in a crime. There are two types of principals: * Principal in the first degree, the person that commits the crime. * Principal in the second degree (accomplice), someone that aids, counsels, assists or encourages the first degree principal. Presence is required for a party to be considered 2nd degree, with constructive presence being sufficient. Both principals are punished equally and are equally liable for the crime the other commits. An accessory is a person who helps commit the crime without being present. Accessories are generally punished less severely than the principal. There are two types of accessory: * An accessory before the fact is a person who encourages or helps another commit a crime. Statues grou ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Criminal Law
Criminal law is the body of law that relates to crime. It prescribes conduct perceived as threatening, harmful, or otherwise endangering to the property, health, safety, and moral welfare of people inclusive of one's self. Most criminal law is established by statute, which is to say that the laws are enacted by a legislature. Criminal law includes the punishment and rehabilitation of people who violate such laws. Criminal law varies according to jurisdiction, and differs from civil law, where emphasis is more on dispute resolution and victim compensation, rather than on punishment or rehabilitation. Criminal procedure is a formalized official activity that authenticates the fact of commission of a crime and authorizes punitive or rehabilitative treatment of the offender. History The first civilizations generally did not distinguish between civil law and criminal law. The first written codes of law were designed by the Sumerians. Around 2100–2050 BC Ur-Nammu, the ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Model Penal Code
The Model Penal Code (MPC) is a model act designed to stimulate and assist U.S. state legislatures to update and standardize the penal law of the United States.MPC (Foreword). The MPC was a project of the American Law Institute (ALI), and was published in 1962 after a ten-year drafting period. The chief reporter on the project was Herbert Wechsler, and contributors included Sanford Kadish and numerous other noted criminal law scholars, prosecutors, and defense lawyers.Wechsler (1952)Dubber (2015, pp. 7-10). The ALI performed an examination of the penal system in the U.S. and the prohibitions, sanctions, excuses, and authority used throughout in order to arrive at a cohesive synthesis to the extent possible, and the best rules for the penal system in the United States. Primary responsibility for criminal law lies with the individual states, which over the years led to great inconsistency among the various state penal codes. The MPC was meant to be a comprehensive criminal c ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Solicitation
Solicitation is the act of offering, or attempting to purchase, goods and/or services. Legal status may be specific to the time or place where it occurs. The crime of "solicitation to commit a crime" occurs when a person encourages, "solicits, requests, commands, importunes or otherwise attempts to cause" another person to attempt or commit a crime, with the purpose of thereby facilitating the attempt or commission of that crime.''Criminal Law - Cases and Materials'', 7th ed. 2012, Wolters Kluwer Law & Business; John Kaplan (law professor), Robert Weisberg, Guyora Binder, /ref> England and Wales In England and Wales, the term soliciting is usually "for a person (whether male or female) persistently to loiter or solicit in a street or public place for the purpose of prostitution" under the Street Offences Act 1959 as amended. The crime of soliciting should not be confused with the profession of a solicitor, which under UK law is typically that of a lawyer, who may also function ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Attempt
An attempt to commit a crime occurs if a criminal has an intent to commit a crime and takes a substantial step toward completing the crime, but for reasons not intended by the criminal, the final resulting crime does not occur.''Criminal Law - Cases and Materials'', 7th ed. 2012, Wolters Kluwer Law & Business; John Kaplan (law professor), Robert Weisberg, Guyora Binder, /ref> Attempt to commit a particular crime is a crime, usually considered to be of the same or lesser gravity as the particular crime attempted. Attempt is a type of inchoate crime, a crime that is not fully developed. The crime of attempt has two elements, intent and some conduct toward completion of the crime.Defining Attempts: Mandujano's Error, Duke University, Michael R. Fishman/ref> One group of theories in criminal law is that attempt to commit an act occurs when a person comes dangerously close to carrying out a criminal act, and intends to commit the act, but does not commit it. The person may have ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Conspiracy (crime)
In criminal law, a conspiracy is an agreement between two or more persons to commit a crime at some time in the future. Criminal law in some countries or for some conspiracies may require that at least one overt act be undertaken in furtherance of that agreement, to constitute an offense. There is no limit on the number participating in the conspiracy and, in most countries, the plan is the crime, so there is no requirement that any steps have been taken to put the plan into effect (compare attempts which require proximity to the full offense). For the purposes of concurrence, the ''actus reus'' is a continuing one and parties may join the plot later and incur joint liability and conspiracy can be charged where the co-conspirators have been acquitted or cannot be traced. Finally, repentance by one or more parties does not affect liability (unless, in some cases, it occurs ''before'' the parties have committed overt acts) but may reduce their sentence. An unindicted co-conspirat ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Specific Intent
In criminal law, intent is a subjective state of mind () that must accompany the acts of certain crimes to constitute a violation. A more formal, generally synonymous legal term is : intent or knowledge of wrongdoing. Definitions Intent is defined in English law by the ruling in ''R v Mohan'' 976QB 1 as "the decision to bring about a prohibited consequence" ( malum prohibitum). A range of words represents shades of ''intent'' in criminal laws around the world. The mental element, or ''mens rea'', of murder, for example, was historically called malice aforethought. In some jurisdictions transferred intent allows the prosecution for intentional murder if a death occurs in the course of committing an intentional felony. The intent for the felony is transferred to the killing in this type of situation. The language of "malice" is mostly abandoned and intent element of a crime, such as intent to kill, may exist without a malicious motive, or even with a benevolent motive, such as ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Attendant Circumstances
In law, attendant circumstances (sometimes external circumstances) are the facts surrounding an event. In criminal law in the United States, the definition of a given offense generally includes up to three kinds of "elements": the , or guilty conduct; the , or guilty mental state; and the attendant (sometimes "external") circumstances. The reason is given in ''Powell v. Texas'', 392 U.S. 514, 533 (1968): ...criminal penalties may be inflicted only if the accused has committed some act, has engaged in some behavior, which society has an interest in preventing. The burden of proof is on the prosecution to prove each "element of the offense" in order for a defendant to be found guilty. The Model Penal Code §1.13(9) offers the following definition of the phrase "elements of an offense": (i) such conduct or (ii) such attendant circumstances or (iii) such a result of conduct as ::(a) is included in the description of the forbidden conduct in the definition of the offense; or ::(b) es ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Robinson V
Robinson may refer to: People and names * Robinson (name) Fictional characters * Robinson Crusoe, the main character, and title of a novel by Daniel Defoe, published in 1719 Geography * Robinson projection, a map projection used since the 1960s to show the entire world in two dimensions * Robinson (crater), a small lunar impact crater southwest of the large walled plain J. Herschel ;United States * Robinson, Illinois * Robinson, Iowa * Robinson, Kansas * Robinson, Kentucky * Robinson, Minnesota * Robinson, North Dakota * Robinson, Texas * Robinson, Washington * Robinson Township, Pennsylvania (other), two townships in the Pittsburgh Metro Area with the same name ;United Kingdom * Robinson (Lake District), a 737 m hill in England's Lake District * Robinson College, Cambridge, a college in England's University of Cambridge ;France * Robinson (Paris RER), a commuter train station in Paris Ships * USS ''Robinson'', the name of more than one United States Navy ship * ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Corpus Delicti
(Latin for "body of the crime"; plural: ), in Western law, is the principle that a crime must be proved to have occurred before a person can be convicted of committing that crime. For example, a person cannot be tried for larceny unless it can be proven that property has been stolen. Likewise, in order for a person to be tried for arson it must be proven that a criminal act resulted in the burning of a property. ''Black's Law Dictionary'' (6th ed.) defines "''corpus delicti'' as: "the fact of a crime having been actually committed". In common law systems, the concept has its outgrowth in several principles. Many jurisdictions hold as a legal rule that a defendant's out-of-court confession, alone, is insufficient evidence to prove the defendant's guilt beyond reasonable doubt. A corollary to this rule is that an accused cannot be convicted solely upon the testimony of an accomplice. Some jurisdictions also hold that without first showing independent corroboration that a crime h ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
In Re Winship
''In re Winship'', 397 U.S. 358 (1970), was a United States Supreme Court decision that held that "the Due Process Clause protects the accused against conviction except upon proof beyond a reasonable doubt of every fact necessary to constitute the crime charged."''Criminal Law - Cases and Materials'', 7th ed. 2012, Wolters Kluwer Law & Business; John Kaplan, Robert Weisberg, Guyora Binder, /ref> It established this burden in all cases in all states (constitutional case). The decision did not specify which facts constitute the charged crime. In an opinion authored by Justice Brennan, the Court held that when a juvenile is charged with an act that would be a crime if committed by an adult, every element of the offense must be proved beyond reasonable doubt, not preponderance of the evidence. The case has come to stand for a broader proposition, however: in a criminal prosecution, every essential element of the offense must be proved beyond reasonable doubt. See, e.g., ''Appren ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Adversarial System
The adversarial system or adversary system is a legal system used in the common law countries where two advocates represent their parties' case or position before an impartial person or group of people, usually a judge or jury, who attempt to determine the truth and pass judgment accordingly. It is in contrast to the inquisitorial system used in some civil law systems (i.e. those deriving from Roman law or the Napoleonic code) where a judge investigates the case. The adversarial system is the two-sided structure under which criminal trial courts operate, putting the prosecution against the defense. Basic features As an accused is not compelled to give evidence in a criminal adversarial proceeding, they may not be questioned by a prosecutor or judge unless they choose to be; however, should they decide to testify, they are subject to cross-examination and could be found guilty of perjury. As the election to maintain an accused person's right to silence prevents any examinat ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Restatement Of Torts, Second
The American ''Restatement of Torts, Second'', is a treatise issued by the American Law Institute. It summarizes the general principles of common law United States tort law. The volumes covering torts are part of the second ''Restatements of the Law'' series. It includes four volumes, with the first two published in 1965, the third in 1977 and the last in 1979. Section 402A of this ''Restatement'', discussing strict liability for defective products, is by far the most widely cited section of any ''Restatement''. It gave birth to such an enormous body of case law that an entirely new ''Restatement of Torts, Third: Products Liability'' was published in 1997 to supersede Section 402A and related sections. See also *''Restatements of the Law In American jurisprudence, the ''Restatements of the Law'' are a set of treatises on legal subjects that seek to inform judges and lawyers about general principles of common law. There are now four series of ''Restatements'', all published by ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
