Elements Of The Crime

ELEMENTS OF THE CRIME

actus reus:

An act in violation of the law; a guilty act.

mens rea:

The specific mental state of the defendant at the time of the crime; a guilty mind.

And concurrence

CONSPIRACY

•An agreement between two or more people

•The intention to carry out an act that is unlawful or one that is lawful but is to be accomplished by unlawful means

•A culpable intent on the part of the defendants

When a conspiracy unfolds, the ultimate act that it aims to bring about does not have to occur for the parties to the conspiracy to be arrested. When people plan to bomb a public building, for example, they can be legally stopped before the bombing. As soon as they take steps to further their plan, they have met the requirement for an act. Buying explosives, telephoning one another, and drawing plans of the building may all be actions “in furtherance of the conspiracy.”

criminal conspiracy:

An agreement between two or more people to commit or to effect the commission of an unlawful act or to use unlawful means to accomplish an act that is not unlawful.

HOMICIDE

Homicide is the killing of one human being by another human being. (By definition, suicides are not included.) More precisely, homicide can be defined as “the killing of one human being by the act, procurement, or omission of another human being.”There are three basic types of homicide: justifiable, excusable, and criminal. Justifiable homicides are those that are permitted under law, as in the case of a state-ordered execution or a military killing of an enemy soldier in the line of duty. A death caused by the legitimate use of self-defense is sometimes classified as a justifiable homicide, although it may also be considered an excusable homicide.

homicide

The killing of a human being by the act, procurement, or omission of another human being.

Three types

>justifiable homicide

(1) Homicide that is permitted under the law. (2) A killing justified for the good of society. (3) The killing of another in self-defense when danger of death or serious bodily harm exists. (4) The killing of a person according to one’s duties or out of necessity but without blame.

>Excusable homicides are those homicides that may involve some fault but not enough for the act to be considered criminal. A death caused by a vehicular accident in which the driver was not negligent, for example, would probably be excusable. The term criminal homicide refers only to those homicides to which criminal liability may attach. Generally speaking, any homicide that is not classified as justifiable or excusable may be considered criminal.

excusable homicide

A killing conducted in a manner that the criminal law does

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