Transcript Psychology of Homicide - Steve Christiansen Website

*
Unit I Lecture
Basics of Criminal Law
and the Insanity
Defense
*
* Criminal Justice can be defined as follows: Criminal
(Crime): An act committed or omitted in violation of criminal
law forbidding or commanding it. (Note: A crime can be
done by omitting to do something, such as paying taxes or
failing to providing reasonable care for your child.)
*
*Justice-maintenance or administration of what is
just (merited or deserved by) by the impartial
adjustment (settlement) of conflicting
claims. (Note: In a criminal case the claimants are
usually the "State" versus a "Person." If its the
federal government prosecuting a case of lets say
a bank robber, then it would be "The United States"
versus "John Doe." In all cases of criminal law, it is
the GOVERNMENT prosecuting an individual or
group of people.
*
* The Criminal Justice System is a group of agencies charged
with the administration of setting criminal justice claims.
* There are 3 components of the criminal justice system, they
are:
* LAW ENFORCEMENT---->COURTS---->CORRECTIONS
* A person generally progresses through the system in the order
above. They first are usually arrested (not always by police could be FBI, DEA, or Sheriff). Then they go to court and if
found guilty they proceed to be incarcerated in a correctional
facility.
*
* Statutory Law v. Case Law
* Statutory law is also called legislative law and is created by
those we elect to both state and federal congress. They are
created by legislators and in Washington a prime example of
statutory law would be the RCW's or Revised Code of
Washington.
* Statutory laws usually consist of a definition of the offense
and the possibilities of punishments. An example would be
"Forcible Rape-sexual intercourse or attempted sexual
intercourse with persons against their will, by force, threat
or deceit."
*
* Case law is also called judicial law and is created by the
courts from cases decided by the courts at the appeals
and Supreme Court levels. Case law serves two
purposes; the first is to resolve conflict between various
sources of law (city, state, and federal)) and the second
is to interpret and clarify the law (some statutory laws
created by legislators are confusing, convoluted and
unclear). An example of case law would be Miranda v.
Arizona, this was a law created by a landmark US
Supreme Court case.
*
****A key term in case law is called "stare decisis" which
means let the decision stand. It is also called the law of
precedence and aids in consistency. "Stare decisis"
means that future cases can be decided based on
previous case decisions.
*Definition-The doctrine of precedent, under which it is
necessary for courts to follow earlier judicial decisions
when the same points arise again in litigation.
*U.S. Supreme Court cases can be looked up on the
Internet at the site:
*http://findlaw.com
*
* Substantive laws are written for the typical criminal
offender. Substantive laws define the criminal offenses
and the possibilities of punishments. This could be by
the commission of a crime, the omission of an act that
would be a crime and possession - such as drugs or
explosives.
* Procedural laws are those that apply to persons that
work in the criminal justice system. These would be
laws such as those that limit or describe police
conduct, and those that guide judges instructions to
juries.
*
*This classification of crime is made by the
possibility defined by punishment.
*Felony-death or imprisonment in a
state or federal prison (penitentiary)
of more than one year.
*Misdemeanor-confinement in a local
or county facility, normally less than
one year.
*
* There are basically three elements to a crime.
* A.
The first basic element of a crime is the "ACTUS REUS" or
guilty act. The guilty act of a murder would be the plunging
of the knife into the chest, penetrating the skin, breaking the
ribs, severing the aorta and becoming lodged in the spinal
column.
* B. The second element of a crime is the "MENS REA" or the
guilty mind. This is also called the criminal INTENT of the
crime. Did the person intentionally stab the person in the
chest?
* C. The third element of a crime is the "FUSION" or the
bringing together of the act (ACTUS REUS) and the intent
(MENS REA). Most crimes occur with an act and the intent, in
some rare cases although the next element (Criminal
Negligence) can be substituted for the intent.
*
*Criminal Negligence may substitute for intent.
*Definition-criminal negligence is a deviation from a
standard of care a reasonable person would exercise.
*An example would be a mother leaving a 5-year-old at
home alone and going to the casino, when she returns
she finds the 5-year-old has fallen out an open 2nd
floor window onto the concrete ground below. Even
though the mother had not "intended" that the baby
be hurt, she did deviate from a standard of care a
reasonable person would exercise.
*
* 1.
Infancy is a state of being young. Children and young
persons are not criminally liable if they are a certain age
because they cannot form the intent necessary to convict
them.
* In most states the cut off age where a child cannot be
charged no matter what, is seven years old.
* From the age of eight to seventeen in most states we have
the Juvenile Justice System to deal with ways to help
children who commit crime (in some cases where the crime is
extremely violent or the child has repeatedly committed
crimes, the child can be CERTIFIED as an adult and stand trial
in adult court.)
*
Is another defense in which a person is not capable of forming
intent.
* Definition-Insanity is a defense for criminal liability that
asserts a lack of criminal responsibility.
* Three main tests for insanity;
* 1. The M’Naghten rule
* 2. The ALI/MPC test
* 3. The Irresistible-impulse test
*
*The problem in most states is how we define
who is and who is not INSANE.
*Do we say a man is insane if he comes home
and finds his wife in bed with another woman
and kills them both? Do we say person is insane
if a dog "SAM" speaks to them and tells them to
go out and kill people?
*
* The most famous example of the insanity defense is called
the M'Naghten Rule derived from an 1843 murder case of
Daniel M’Naghten who tried to kill the prime minister,
Robert Peel, but instead killed his secretary.
* M’Naghten suffered from paranoid delusions.
* The rule states that at the time of committing the act, the
accused was unable to distinguish right from wrong because
of a disease of the mind. Over half of the states in the U.S.
still use a version of the M’Naghten Rule.
* Now called NGRI. (Not guilty by reason of insanity)
*
* In early 1960’s, the American Law Institute (ALI) included
insanity standard in its Model Penal Code (MPC). Also known
as the substantial-capacity test.
* The ALI/MPC test states that-a person is not responsible for
criminal behavior if at the time of such conduct, as a result
of mental disease or defect, he/she lacks substantial
capacity either to appreciate the criminality (wrongfulness)
of his conduct or to conform his conduct to the
requirements of the law.
* This is the easiest test to prove. Adopted by 26 states and
the federal government.
*
* The irresistible impulse test states the defendant knew his or
her actions was wrong but must show they were unable to
resist the urge to commit the crime.
* Many people think the insanity defense is used a great deal and is
not fundamentally fair. In reality the insanity defense is used in
less than 1% of all cases, and of that 1%, it is only successful 25%
of the time. The insanity defense is extremely hard to prove.
Some states have now adopted a guilty by mentally ill defense.
*Some states have adopted the “guilty
but mentally ill” standard (GBMI) in
addition to the NGRI rule. GMBI is now
used in 13 states.
*
* Coercion/Duress means that you are forced to committing a
crime by another person.
* The requirement is that you have to be facing immediate
threat to either yourself or another person (it does not have
to be a relative) and the threat has to be of great harm or
death.
* The only defense coercion is NOT a defense for is murder-
meaning if someone held a gun to your head and said to cut
someone's throat, you would have to refuse and take the
bullet.
*
* Self-Defense - A person is privileged to use such force as
"reasonably" appears necessary to defend himself/herself or
others.
* The rules are generally the force you must be commensurate
to the force your way (meaning you can't shoot someone for
calling you a name or punching you in the arm). Also you
cannot use deadly force to defend personal property (the only
exception to this is sometimes your home). You can only use
this defense to protect yourself or others (it does not have to
be a relative). You also have to be facing
immediate/imminent threat (this has varied in some cases of
spouse battering or domestic violence).
*
*Necessity - A person has the choice of two
evils, either violate the law or something
worse could happen.
*An example is if your wife is having a baby IN
the car as you drive to the hospital, you see
the baby coming out and you speed to get her
there. In this case you sped to preserve life
(your wife and your baby).
*Thank you!
*