ADMJ 1400 Chapter Notes - Chapter 4: Mens Rea

• School: Pitt
• Department: Administration of Justice
• Course: ADMJ 1400
• Professor: David Cercone

Document Summary

The general principles of criminal liability: mens rea, concurrence, ignorance, and mistake. Culpability or blame-(cid:449)o(cid:396)thi(cid:374)ess: the idea that it"s fai(cid:396) a(cid:374)d just to pu(cid:374)ish o(cid:374)l(cid:455) people (cid:449)e (cid:272)a(cid:374) blame. Difficult to discover and then prove in court. Courts and legislatures use vague and incomplete definitions of mental element. Different mental attitudes can be applied to different elements of the crime. Need motive (something that causes a person to act. You ha(cid:448)e to p(cid:396)o(cid:448)e a (cid:862)state of (cid:373)i(cid:374)e(cid:863) (cid:894)these (cid:272)a(cid:374) o(cid:374)l(cid:455) (cid:271)e see(cid:374) th(cid:396)ough the (cid:272)o(cid:374)fessio(cid:374)s that may not always be truthful) U(cid:271)je(cid:272)ti(cid:448)e fault: fault that (cid:396)e(cid:395)ui(cid:396)es a (cid:862)(cid:271)ad (cid:373)i(cid:374)d(cid:863) i(cid:374) the a(cid:272)to(cid:396) Objective fault: requires no purposeful or conscious bad mind in the actor. Do(cid:374)"t li(cid:448)e up to the (cid:374)o(cid:396)(cid:373) of a(cid:374) a(cid:448)e(cid:396)age pe(cid:396)so(cid:374) Strict liability: liability without subjective or objective fault. General intent: the intent to commit the criminal act forbidden by statute.