Law School Resources
Criminal Law
I. Jurisdiction
A. A state acquires
jurisdiction to try a crime if that state is the
situs of the crime. The situs means
1. the conduct
happened in the state
2. the result
occurred in the state.
B. Crimes of
omission: jurisdiction is where the act should have
been performed.
II. Merger
A. Generally,
there is no merger of law.
B. Exception:
solicitation and attempt merge into the
substantive offense. The ironic but complete
defense to attempting a crime is completing it.
C.
Conspiracy
does NOT mercy with the substantive offense. You
can be convicted of conspiring to do something and
with doing it.
III. Elements of Crime
A. Requirements
1. Act or
Omission
a) Act – any
bodily movement. Watch for those that do not
qualify for criminal liability:
(1) Conduct that
is not the product of your own volition. Ex:
someone pushes you.
(2) A reflexive
or convulsive act. Ex: epileptic seizure. –OR-
(3) An act
performed while you are unconscious or asleep. Ex:
sleep walking. Falling asleep at the wheel does not
fall under this exception.
b) Omission –
There is no legal duty to rescue, but there is a
legal duty to act in 5 situations:
(1) By statute,
e.g., filing taxes
(2) By k, e.g.,
nurse or lifeguard
(3) B/c of the
relationship b/w the parties, e.g., parent/child,
spouses
(4) *B/c of your
voluntarily assuming a duty of care toward someone
else, then failing to perform it. Ex: start saving
someone who is drowning. You have a duty to finish
the attempt.
(5) Legal duty to
act where your conduct created the peril, e.g., you
push someone in a pool.
2. Mental State
[usually 10 questions]
a)
Common Law:
4 mental states
(1) Specific
intent – qualifies for additional defenses not
available for other kinds of crime (memorize these,
below)
(2) Malice -
there are only two malice crimes:
(a) Murder
(b) Arson
(3) General
intent – catch-all category. Virtually every crime
in the AL Code. E.g., rape, battery.
(4) Strict
liability – the “no intent” crimes. Any defense
that negates intention cannot be a defense to a no
intent crime.
b)
The Specific
Intent Crimes
(11)
(1) The 3
incohate crimes
(a) Solicitation
(b) Conspiracy
(c) Attempt
(2) 1st
degree murder
(a) If just
“murder” on the exam, they are referring to CL
murder, or murder in the 2d degree. This is a
malice crime, not a specific intent crime.
(b) If you see “1st
degree murder”, it is a specific intent crime and
you should use the additional specific intent
defenses to reduce this specific intent crime to a
malice crime of murder.
(3) Assault (see
more below)
(4) All CL
felonies against property
(a) Larceny
(b) Embezzlement
(c) False
pretenses
(d) Robbery
(e) Burglary
(f) Forgery
c)
The Malice Crimes
(2)
(1) Murder
(2) Arson
d)
General Intent
Crimes
– all other crimes not so far mentioned are general
intent crimes (unless they qualify for the strict
liability formula, below).
(1) *Transferred
intent – X intended to shoot A, but he missed
and hit B. The intent to kill A is transferred to
govern the death of B. Guilty of murdering
B.
(a) There are 2
crimes that fit here, attempted murder and murder.
Why don’t these merge? Never merge crimes that have
different victims.
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