Transcript Criminal Defenses

CRIMINAL LAW
2.4 CRIMINAL
DEFENSES
Defenses

For a conviction to occur in a criminal case, the
prosecutor must establish beyond a reasonable doubt
that the defendant committed the act in question with
the required intent.


Defendants are not required to present a defense.
Defenses fall into the following categories:


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
No crime has been committed
Defendant did not commit the crime
Defendant committed a criminal act, but the act was
excusable or justified
Defendant committed a criminal act but is not criminally
responsible for his or her actions.
“NO CRIME HAS BEEN
COMMITTED”

Defendant must prove either (a) no crime was
committed or (b) there was no criminal intent.
 Example:
If Katie accidentally takes the wrong
Acura home, she can’t be convicted of car theft
because she didn’t intend to steal the car.
“THE DEFENDANT DID NOT
COMMIT THE CRIME”

Assuming the crime has been committed, but
the defendant did not commit it, they must
present an alibi: evidence that the defendant
was somewhere else at the time the crime was
committed.
“THE DEFENDANT COMMITTED A CRIMINAL
ACT, BUT THE ACT WAS EXCUSABLE OR
JUSTIFIED”

Defenses for this category include:

Self-Defense: a person has the right to use
reasonable force in self-defense. There must be a
threat of imminent danger of bodily harm. The
defender can not continue to use force after the
attacker has been stopped.

Defense of Property or Others: a person has the
right to defend another person from an attack about to
occur or to use reasonable, nondeadly force to protect
property.
“THE DEFENDANT COMMITTED A CRIMINAL ACT
BUT IS NOT CRIMINALLY RESPONSIBLE FOR HIS
OR HER ACTIONS.”

Infancy: children under a specific age shall not be
tried for their crimes but shall be turned over to
juvenile court.

Intoxication: defendants can claim that at the time of
a crime, they were too intoxicated to know what they
were doing.


Voluntary intoxication is usually not a defense.
Insanity: people who have a mental disease or defect
should not be convicted if they don’t know what
they’re doing or don’t know if it’s right or wrong.
“THE DEFENDANT COMMITTED A CRIMINAL ACT
BUT IS NOT CRIMINALLY RESPONSIBLE FOR HIS
OR HER ACTIONS.”

Entrapment: the defendant committed a criminal act but claims he
or she was induced to commit the crime by a law enforcement
officer.

It must be proven that the defendant would not have committed the
crime if it weren’t for the inducement of the police officer.

Duress: the defendant committed the crime as a result of coercion
or a threat of immediate danger to life or personal safety.

Necessity: the defendant committed a crime because they were
compelled to react to an unavoidable situation in order to protect
life.
“THE DEFENDANT COMMITTED A CRIMINAL ACT
BUT IS NOT CRIMINALLY RESPONSIBLE FOR HIS
OR HER ACTIONS.”

Prevention of Crime: law enforcement officials
can claim this defense, which allows them to
violate the law if they do so reasonably.

Diminished Capacity: the defendant can claim
that they are not insane, but suffer from a mental
impairment that makes them unable to formulate
the required intent for a particular defense.

Usually used to lower charge from first-degree to
second-degree murder.