criminal law outline- u chicago b l s a（刑法概述- u芝加哥b l s）.docVIP

Criminal Law Outline Alschuler 2002 The Determination of Criminal Guilt The Requirement of Proof Beyond a Reasonable Doubt Due Process requires that that the prosecution has the burden of proof and must prove all elements of a crime beyond a reasonable doubt. (Winship) Rationale—reduces the risk of erroneous convictions. “It is far worse to convict an innocent person than to let ten guilty persons go free.” (Contrast w/ civil cases, where stakes not as high—only money, not also imprisonment and stigma—POE is standard. Difference in standard also attributable to differences in purpose—civil cases about allocating losses, and thus errors one way are offset by errors in other ways.) Thus, disutility of wrongful convictions disutility of wrongful acquittals. Types of burdens of proof: Burden of production—burden to produce enough evidence to make out a prima facie case Burden of persuasion—burden to convince trier of fact of existence, say, of a defense What the prosecutor must prove—everything including in the statute as an element of the offense (Patterson) Sentencing factors—all statutory facts (e.g., motive for carrying a weapon) that enhance maximum sentence are elements of the offense and the prosecution must have the burden of persuasion. (Apprendi) Thus, the burden of persuasion for an affirmative defense may be placed upon a defendant if it is not an element of the crime as stated in the statute Rationale—requiring the prosecution to have the burden of persuasion on all affirmative defenses would provide undesirable incentive for states to abolish those difficult-to-disprove defenses such as insanity. While this would seem to allow states to redesign statutes to place the burden upon defendants of any element they pleased, this is only so if the crime as rewritten is constitutional. Thus, if a crime w/ elements X+Y+Z is rewritten to be X+Y w/ not-Z being an affirmative defense, this would only be constitutional if X+Y alone could constitute an offense