General

All crimes have 4 basic common elements:

1. actus reus: voluntary act
2. mens rea: culpable intent (guilty mind)
3. concurrence between actus reus and mens rea
4. causation of harm

Felonies and Misdemeanors

• Crimes are usually divided into these two categories.
  • Felony: Serious crime that is punishable by at least one year in state prison
  • Misdemeanor: Lesser crime with a maximum penalty of:
    • Incarceration for less than 1 year; OR
    • A fine; OR
    • Both.

 

Punishment Theories

• Two main philosophies of the purpose of Criminal Law:
  • Utilitarianism: Society should try to maximize the net happiness of people.
    • General Deterrence: Criminals should be punished to dissuade the general community from committing crimes in the future.
    • Specific Deterrence: Criminal B should be punished to dissuade Criminal B from committing more crimes in the future.
    • Rehabilitation: The Justice System should dissuade Criminal B from committing more crimes in the future with education/reformation instead of with fear of pain.
  • Retributivism: Morally culpable should be punished.
    • Retributivists do not focus on deterrence or rehabilitation.
• Types of Punishment: There are 3 main types of punishment:
  • Imprisonment
  • Death Penalty
  • Fines
    • “Shaming”: Sometimes courts aim to shame the defendant by ordering a public apology or confession.

U.S. Constitution Limits on Punishment

1. Bill of Rights
   • First Amendment: “Make no law … abridging the freedom of speech.” (Limit on Congress)
   • Fourth Amendment:  Government not allowed to make “unreasonable searches and seizures.” (Limit on Government)
   • Fifth Amendment: Person cannot be tried twice for the same charge  (Double Jeopardy).
     • Government cannot deprive a person of “life, liberty, or property, without due process of law.”  (Procedural Fairness)
   • Eighth Amendment: Congress cannot impose “cruel and unusual punishments.”
2. The Fourteenth Amendment imposes limits on what state governments may do.
   • It also features a Due Process clause that makes nearly all of the Bil of Rights guarantees applicable to the states.
3. Legality Principle: Person can only be punished if the act was defined as criminal before he acted.
   • Not stated in Constitution.
   • Clauses inspired by legality principle.
     • Art. I, Section 9: prohibits Congress from passing any bill of attainder; Section 10 prohibits states from passing such a bill
       • Bill of attainder: legislation that singles out punishment for a particular or easily-identified group
     • Art. I, Section 9 prohibits Congress from passing ex post facto law; Section 10 prohibits states.
       • Ex post facto law: law that makes conduct criminal that was not criminal at the time committed, increases degree of criminality, or increases maximum permissible punishment for conduct beyond what it was at time committed
         • Calder v Bull (1798)
     • 5th and 14th Amendments prohibit legislation and courts from criminalizing conduct without giving ordinary people fair warning of what is being prohibited.
   • Criminal laws that are unreasonably vague may not be enforced –> Otherwise violate due process rights.
     • lack of fair warning
     • too much discretion to law enforcement
4. Principle of Proportionality:  Punishment for given crime should be proportional to that crime’s seriousness.
   • 8th Amendment: Prevents “cruel and unusual punishment”
     • Capital Punishment Limits:
       • Therefore, death penalty may not be used in non-murder cases (except crimes against the state).
         • Kennedy v Louisiana (2008)
       • May not execute mentally retarded
         • Atkins v Virginia (2002)
       • May not execute those who were juveniles at time of crime committed
         • Roper v Simmons, (2005)
     • Prison Sentence Limits:
       
       • 8th Amendment’s influence on prison sentence length is much weaker.
         • Ewing v California,  (2003)
           • 2 or more serious convictions, 25 to life sentence even though most recent crime was $1200 merchandise, affirmed sentence because of prior convictions.