required mental state nessisary to constitute a crime
strict liability crimes
Crimes that require no proof of culpability or state of mind and are justified on the basis of the need to encourage high standards of care for protection of the public
8th Amendment
Prohibition against cruel and unusual punishment
Customs
Social rules of conduct or norms that do not arouse intense feelings-
Folkways
Social rules of contduct that when violated carry the least intense feelings when compared to mores or customs
Misdemeanor
Punishable by fine or jail time
Mores
social rules of conduct or norms that arouse intese feelings and are subject to extreme consequences.
stare decisis
Legal principle that binds courts to stand by prior decisions and used them as standards by which cases are judged
Statutory Law
Law created by legislative bodies to leet changing social conditions, customs, and public opinion.
Double Jeopardy
A protection in the fifth amendment, which protects an individual against second prosecution for the same offense after aquital or conviction.
Equal Protection
a clause in the 14th amendment to the U.S constitution that requires that persons are given equal protection in the enjoyment of personal rights.
ex post facto law
a law that makes an act criminal after the act was commited. Retoactively lessens the evidence required for a conviction, or increases the punishment for a previously commited criminal act.
Venue
The geographic location for which a trial should be held. 6th Amd states defendent has right to be tried in the judicial distric where crime was commited
Actus reus
an illegal act; the act or failure to act which constitutes the crime
Constructive intent
the principle law that refers to those situations where the actor does not intend any harm but should have known that his/her actions created a high risk of harming others
criminal sanction
the punishment that is associated with being convicted of a crime
mala in se
crimes that are inherently bad - murder- rape- theft
mala prohibita
crimes that are only crimes b/c the gov declared them so-- hunting w/o license
transferred intent
priciple of law that transfers the inten to harm to the person that actually harmed. Involves a sit. where a person intends to injure one person but in hurts a third person by accident