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Criminal Law

Criminal Law

Author(s): George Dery

Edition: 2

Copyright: 2018

Edition: 2

Copyright: 2018

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ISBN 9781792406072

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ISBN 9781792406171

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The law touches everything, and each rule in the law affects each other.

Criminal Law aims to exploit the love for storytelling to teach criminal law. This text offers insight into various solutions to legal problems by viewing cases and statutes from many jurisdictions, and brings home the immediacy of these issues by considering cases in the news. Law is not a static body of fossilized rules; therefore, Criminal Law offers the rationales underlying the rules and explanations for their changes over time.

Criminal Law:

  • contains cases that explore a wide range of criminal behavior.
  • explores England’s common law, the origin of our rules.
  • offers a complete understanding of legal analysis, or learning how to “think like a lawyer” and enables students to persuade and convince others not only in law but also in all matters of dispute.

The 2nd edition of Criminal Law:

  • Brings the study of criminal law to life! It features added photos and political cartoons throughout.
  • Increases student interactivity! Video links on a variety of topical and controversial subjects are included.
  • Promotes skills! The skills sections include information students will need as they pursue their careers in criminal justice.
  • Is career focused! This edition offers practical resources for students pursuing criminal justice careers.

 

**This item can not be returned once purchased**

 

I. CHAPTER 1

The Sources of and Limits on Criminal Law

A. Introduction

1. The Purpose of Criminal Law

a) Morality and Blame

b) The Principle of Legality and the Rule of Law

c) Punishment

1) Retribution

2) Deterrence

3) Incapacitation

4) Rehabilitation

2. The Distinctions between Crimes and Torts

3. Law as Constant Change

B. Legal Analysis

1. Facts

2. Issue

3. Rule

4. Analysis

5. Conclusion

C. The General Principles of Criminal Liability—Elements of Crime

1. “Elements” as Necessary Ingredients to Crimes

2. “Elements” as Fundamental Aspects of Crime

D. Sources of Criminal Law

1. Common Law Origins

a) Common Law’s Contribution to Our Law’s Substance: “Common Law” Crimes

b) Common Law’s Contribution to Our Law’s Structure: Stare Decisis

2. Statutes

3. Case Law

4. Regulations

5. Constitutions

6. The Model Penal Code

7. Legal Commentary

8. Jury Instructions

E. Limits on Criminal Law

1. Criminal Cases Must Be Proved Beyond a Reasonable Doubt

2. Vagueness

3. Ex Post Facto Laws

4. Bills of Attainder

5. Double Jeopardy

II. CHAPTER 2

“Actus Reus” or Criminal Act: The Mandatory Element for All Crime

A. What Is Meant by Criminal Act or “Actus Reus”?

1. Definition of “Actus Reus”

2. A Mandated Element for All Crime

3. Volitional Act Requirement

a) Involuntariness Due to Medical Condition

b) Involuntariness Due to Physical Injury

4. Failure to Act: Omission

a) Duty Based on Relationship

b) Duty Arising from Creation of Peril

5. Possession as an Act

6. Act as “Status” or “Condition”

III. CHAPTER 3

“Mens Rea” or Criminal Intent: The Necessary Element for Most Crimes

A. What Is Meant by Criminal Intent or “Mens Rea”?

1. Definition of “Mens Rea”

2. Concurrence with Actus Reus

3. Distinguishing Mens Rea from Motive

4. Transferred Intent

5. General and Specific Intent

6. Proof of Mens Rea: Direct Versus Indirect (Circumstantial) Evidence

7. Strict Liability Crimes

IV. CHAPTER 4

Causation: The Element Required for Crimes Having a Forbidden Result

A. What Is Meant by “Causation”?

1. Causation Definition

2. Requirement for Crimes Having a Forbidden Result

3. The Two Kinds of Cause

a) Factual Cause, Cause-in-Fact, or “But For” Cause

b) Proximate Cause or Legal Cause

V. CHAPTER 5

Crimes Against the Person and Against Life: Homicide

A. Murder

1. Unlawful Killing

a) “Causing” Death: The Timing Issue

1) Common Law

2) Today’s Law

b) Determining What Is “Death”

1) Common Law

2) Today’s Law

c) The Right to Die and Assisted Suicide

2. Human Being

a) Common Law

b) Modern Law

3. Malice Aforethought

a) Express Malice: Intent to Kill

b) Intent to Commit Serious Bodily Injury

c) Implied Malice: Depraved Heart Murder

d) The Felony Murder Rule

B. Degrees of Murder

1. List of Means or Actions

2. Willful, Deliberate, Premeditated

3. Felony Murder in First Degree

C. Capital Murder: Killing Meriting the Death Penalty

D. Manslaughter

1. Voluntary

2. Involuntary

3. Vehicular

VI. CHAPTER 6

Crimes Against the Person: Assaultive Conduct

A. Battery

B. Assault

1. Common Law

2. Current Law

C. Mayhem

1. Common Law

2. Current Law

D. Torture

E. False Imprisonment

F. Kidnapping

1. Common Law

2. Current Law

G. Stalking

H. Criminal or Terrorist Threats

I. Hate Crimes

J. Child Abuse

K. Elder Abuse

VII. CHAPTER 7

Crimes Against Person: Sex Crimes

A. Rape

1. Common Law

2. Current Law

B. Spousal Rape

C. Statutory Rape or “Unlawful Sexual Intercourse”

D. Sodomy

1. Common Law

2. Current Law

VIII. CHAPTER 8

Crimes Against Property

A. Larceny

1. Common Law

2. Current Law

a) Crime of Larceny

b) Crimes of Theft by False Pretenses and Embezzlement

c) Elements of Robbery, Larceny, and Theft by False Pretenses and Their Application Here

B. Embezzlement

C. Theft by False Pretences

D. Modern Trend to Consolidate Theft Crimes into One Offense

E. Robbery

1. Common Law

2. Current Law

3. Extortion

a) Common Law

b) Current Law

4. Carjacking

IX. CHAPTER 9

Crimes Against Habitation

A. Burglary

1. Common Law

2. Current Law

B. Arson

1. Common Law

2. Current Law

X. CHAPTER 10

White-Collar Crime

A. What Is “White-Collar Crime”?

B. Mail Fraud

C. Securities Violations and Insider Trading

D. Money Laundering

E. Antitrust

F. Identity Fraud

G. Environmental Crimes

H. Occupational Safety Crimes

XI. CHAPTER 11

Gang Crime

A. What Is a “Gang”? Legal Definitions

B. Gang “Membership” Defined

C. California Street Terrorism Enforcement and Prevention (STEP) Act

D. Prosecuting Gang Crime Under the STEP Act

E. The Challenge of Prosecuting Gangs without Violating the Constitution

XII. CHAPTER 12

Controlled Substance Crimes

A. What Are “Controlled Substances” and Who Controls Them?

B. Possession of a Controlled Substance

1. Actual

2. Constructive

3. Joint

C. Possession for Sale

D. Sales, Manufacture, Distribution

XIII. CHAPTER 13

Crimes against the State

A. Treason

1. Common Law

2. Treason Law in the United States

B. Crimes Under the Espionage Act

C. Terrorism

XIV. CHAPTER 14

Inchoate (Incomplete) Crimes and Parties to Crimes

A. Attempt

1. Common Law

2. Current Law

a) Factual Impossibility

b) Legal Impossibility

c) Inherent Impossibility

3. Abandonment or Withdrawal

B. Conspiracy

1. Common Law

2. Current Law

C. Vicarious Liability: When Is a Conspirator Criminally Liable for the Acts of His or Her Coconspirators?

D. Solicitation

E. Parties to Crime

1. Common Law

a) Principal in the First Degree

b) Principal in the Second Degree

c) Accessory before the Fact

d) Accessory after the Fact

2. Modern Analysis of Accomplice Liability

F. Vicarious Liability

XV. CHAPTER 15

Defenses: Justification

A. Self-Defense

1. Actual and Reasonable Belief in Need to Defend

2. Imminence of Threat

3. Use of Reasonable Force

4. To Counter an Unlawful Harm

5. Retreat Requirement

B. Defense of Others

C. Defense of Property

D. Necessity

E. Consent

XVI. CHAPTER 16

Defenses: Excuse

A. Insanity

1. Common Law—M’Naghten, Queen Victoria, and the Founder of England’s Bobbies, Sir Robert Peel

2. The Modern M’Naghten Rule: California’s Insanity Test Under Penal Code 25(b)

3. The Different Definitions of “Insanity”

a) The “Irresistible Impulse” Test and “Volition”

b) The Federal Test

c) The Model Penal Code Test

4. Present Sanity

5. Post-Judgment Insanity or Mental Competence for Punishment

B. Diminished Capacity

C. Duress

1. Common Law

2. Current Law

D. Intoxication

1. Voluntary Intoxication

2. Involuntary Intoxication

E. Infancy

F. Mistake

1. Mistake of Fact

a) Common Law

1) General Intent Crimes

2) Specific Intent Crimes

b) Model Penal Code

2. Mistake of Law

G. Accident

1. Common Law

2. Current Law

H. Entrapment

1. The Subjective Approach

2. The Objective Approach

APPENDIX I: The United States Constitution

George Dery
George (Max) Dery is a professor at California State University Fullerton at the Division of Politics, Administration, and Justice. He was a Deputy District Attorney at the Los Angeles District Attorney’s Office. He earned his Bachelor of Arts at the University of California Los Angeles and his Juris Doctorate at Loyola Law School in Los Angeles, California. He has been teaching courses in criminal law and criminal procedure since 1990.

The law touches everything, and each rule in the law affects each other.

Criminal Law aims to exploit the love for storytelling to teach criminal law. This text offers insight into various solutions to legal problems by viewing cases and statutes from many jurisdictions, and brings home the immediacy of these issues by considering cases in the news. Law is not a static body of fossilized rules; therefore, Criminal Law offers the rationales underlying the rules and explanations for their changes over time.

Criminal Law:

  • contains cases that explore a wide range of criminal behavior.
  • explores England’s common law, the origin of our rules.
  • offers a complete understanding of legal analysis, or learning how to “think like a lawyer” and enables students to persuade and convince others not only in law but also in all matters of dispute.

The 2nd edition of Criminal Law:

  • Brings the study of criminal law to life! It features added photos and political cartoons throughout.
  • Increases student interactivity! Video links on a variety of topical and controversial subjects are included.
  • Promotes skills! The skills sections include information students will need as they pursue their careers in criminal justice.
  • Is career focused! This edition offers practical resources for students pursuing criminal justice careers.

 

**This item can not be returned once purchased**

 

I. CHAPTER 1

The Sources of and Limits on Criminal Law

A. Introduction

1. The Purpose of Criminal Law

a) Morality and Blame

b) The Principle of Legality and the Rule of Law

c) Punishment

1) Retribution

2) Deterrence

3) Incapacitation

4) Rehabilitation

2. The Distinctions between Crimes and Torts

3. Law as Constant Change

B. Legal Analysis

1. Facts

2. Issue

3. Rule

4. Analysis

5. Conclusion

C. The General Principles of Criminal Liability—Elements of Crime

1. “Elements” as Necessary Ingredients to Crimes

2. “Elements” as Fundamental Aspects of Crime

D. Sources of Criminal Law

1. Common Law Origins

a) Common Law’s Contribution to Our Law’s Substance: “Common Law” Crimes

b) Common Law’s Contribution to Our Law’s Structure: Stare Decisis

2. Statutes

3. Case Law

4. Regulations

5. Constitutions

6. The Model Penal Code

7. Legal Commentary

8. Jury Instructions

E. Limits on Criminal Law

1. Criminal Cases Must Be Proved Beyond a Reasonable Doubt

2. Vagueness

3. Ex Post Facto Laws

4. Bills of Attainder

5. Double Jeopardy

II. CHAPTER 2

“Actus Reus” or Criminal Act: The Mandatory Element for All Crime

A. What Is Meant by Criminal Act or “Actus Reus”?

1. Definition of “Actus Reus”

2. A Mandated Element for All Crime

3. Volitional Act Requirement

a) Involuntariness Due to Medical Condition

b) Involuntariness Due to Physical Injury

4. Failure to Act: Omission

a) Duty Based on Relationship

b) Duty Arising from Creation of Peril

5. Possession as an Act

6. Act as “Status” or “Condition”

III. CHAPTER 3

“Mens Rea” or Criminal Intent: The Necessary Element for Most Crimes

A. What Is Meant by Criminal Intent or “Mens Rea”?

1. Definition of “Mens Rea”

2. Concurrence with Actus Reus

3. Distinguishing Mens Rea from Motive

4. Transferred Intent

5. General and Specific Intent

6. Proof of Mens Rea: Direct Versus Indirect (Circumstantial) Evidence

7. Strict Liability Crimes

IV. CHAPTER 4

Causation: The Element Required for Crimes Having a Forbidden Result

A. What Is Meant by “Causation”?

1. Causation Definition

2. Requirement for Crimes Having a Forbidden Result

3. The Two Kinds of Cause

a) Factual Cause, Cause-in-Fact, or “But For” Cause

b) Proximate Cause or Legal Cause

V. CHAPTER 5

Crimes Against the Person and Against Life: Homicide

A. Murder

1. Unlawful Killing

a) “Causing” Death: The Timing Issue

1) Common Law

2) Today’s Law

b) Determining What Is “Death”

1) Common Law

2) Today’s Law

c) The Right to Die and Assisted Suicide

2. Human Being

a) Common Law

b) Modern Law

3. Malice Aforethought

a) Express Malice: Intent to Kill

b) Intent to Commit Serious Bodily Injury

c) Implied Malice: Depraved Heart Murder

d) The Felony Murder Rule

B. Degrees of Murder

1. List of Means or Actions

2. Willful, Deliberate, Premeditated

3. Felony Murder in First Degree

C. Capital Murder: Killing Meriting the Death Penalty

D. Manslaughter

1. Voluntary

2. Involuntary

3. Vehicular

VI. CHAPTER 6

Crimes Against the Person: Assaultive Conduct

A. Battery

B. Assault

1. Common Law

2. Current Law

C. Mayhem

1. Common Law

2. Current Law

D. Torture

E. False Imprisonment

F. Kidnapping

1. Common Law

2. Current Law

G. Stalking

H. Criminal or Terrorist Threats

I. Hate Crimes

J. Child Abuse

K. Elder Abuse

VII. CHAPTER 7

Crimes Against Person: Sex Crimes

A. Rape

1. Common Law

2. Current Law

B. Spousal Rape

C. Statutory Rape or “Unlawful Sexual Intercourse”

D. Sodomy

1. Common Law

2. Current Law

VIII. CHAPTER 8

Crimes Against Property

A. Larceny

1. Common Law

2. Current Law

a) Crime of Larceny

b) Crimes of Theft by False Pretenses and Embezzlement

c) Elements of Robbery, Larceny, and Theft by False Pretenses and Their Application Here

B. Embezzlement

C. Theft by False Pretences

D. Modern Trend to Consolidate Theft Crimes into One Offense

E. Robbery

1. Common Law

2. Current Law

3. Extortion

a) Common Law

b) Current Law

4. Carjacking

IX. CHAPTER 9

Crimes Against Habitation

A. Burglary

1. Common Law

2. Current Law

B. Arson

1. Common Law

2. Current Law

X. CHAPTER 10

White-Collar Crime

A. What Is “White-Collar Crime”?

B. Mail Fraud

C. Securities Violations and Insider Trading

D. Money Laundering

E. Antitrust

F. Identity Fraud

G. Environmental Crimes

H. Occupational Safety Crimes

XI. CHAPTER 11

Gang Crime

A. What Is a “Gang”? Legal Definitions

B. Gang “Membership” Defined

C. California Street Terrorism Enforcement and Prevention (STEP) Act

D. Prosecuting Gang Crime Under the STEP Act

E. The Challenge of Prosecuting Gangs without Violating the Constitution

XII. CHAPTER 12

Controlled Substance Crimes

A. What Are “Controlled Substances” and Who Controls Them?

B. Possession of a Controlled Substance

1. Actual

2. Constructive

3. Joint

C. Possession for Sale

D. Sales, Manufacture, Distribution

XIII. CHAPTER 13

Crimes against the State

A. Treason

1. Common Law

2. Treason Law in the United States

B. Crimes Under the Espionage Act

C. Terrorism

XIV. CHAPTER 14

Inchoate (Incomplete) Crimes and Parties to Crimes

A. Attempt

1. Common Law

2. Current Law

a) Factual Impossibility

b) Legal Impossibility

c) Inherent Impossibility

3. Abandonment or Withdrawal

B. Conspiracy

1. Common Law

2. Current Law

C. Vicarious Liability: When Is a Conspirator Criminally Liable for the Acts of His or Her Coconspirators?

D. Solicitation

E. Parties to Crime

1. Common Law

a) Principal in the First Degree

b) Principal in the Second Degree

c) Accessory before the Fact

d) Accessory after the Fact

2. Modern Analysis of Accomplice Liability

F. Vicarious Liability

XV. CHAPTER 15

Defenses: Justification

A. Self-Defense

1. Actual and Reasonable Belief in Need to Defend

2. Imminence of Threat

3. Use of Reasonable Force

4. To Counter an Unlawful Harm

5. Retreat Requirement

B. Defense of Others

C. Defense of Property

D. Necessity

E. Consent

XVI. CHAPTER 16

Defenses: Excuse

A. Insanity

1. Common Law—M’Naghten, Queen Victoria, and the Founder of England’s Bobbies, Sir Robert Peel

2. The Modern M’Naghten Rule: California’s Insanity Test Under Penal Code 25(b)

3. The Different Definitions of “Insanity”

a) The “Irresistible Impulse” Test and “Volition”

b) The Federal Test

c) The Model Penal Code Test

4. Present Sanity

5. Post-Judgment Insanity or Mental Competence for Punishment

B. Diminished Capacity

C. Duress

1. Common Law

2. Current Law

D. Intoxication

1. Voluntary Intoxication

2. Involuntary Intoxication

E. Infancy

F. Mistake

1. Mistake of Fact

a) Common Law

1) General Intent Crimes

2) Specific Intent Crimes

b) Model Penal Code

2. Mistake of Law

G. Accident

1. Common Law

2. Current Law

H. Entrapment

1. The Subjective Approach

2. The Objective Approach

APPENDIX I: The United States Constitution

George Dery
George Dery
George (Max) Dery is a professor at California State University Fullerton at the Division of Politics, Administration, and Justice. He was a Deputy District Attorney at the Los Angeles District Attorney’s Office. He earned his Bachelor of Arts at the University of California Los Angeles and his Juris Doctorate at Loyola Law School in Los Angeles, California. He has been teaching courses in criminal law and criminal procedure since 1990.