英美司法制度criminal-law.pptVIP

Lecture 6 Criminal Law The Outline 1. Defining crimes 2. Sources of Criminal Law 3. Categories of Criminal Law 4. Elements of a crime 1) wrongful act ( actus reus) 2) culpable state of mind (mens rea) 3) causation 5. Inchoate Crimes 6. Defenses 7. Criminal Sanctions Defining Crimes According to William Blackstone, an English judge and author of Commentaries on the Laws of England, a crime is a wrong committed against the public that is punishable by imprisonment or fine (or both). a wrong -- an act that violates the law as apposed to violating customs, religious standards. against the public– an illegal act against the interests of the public as a whole as opposed to an illegal act only against the individual victim. Defining Crimes The defining of crimes are changing As a society advances, its judgments about crime and punishment change. e.g. before the enactment of Suicide Law (1961), Committing a suicide is a crime. malum in se v.s. malum prohibitum Classifying Crimes Various criteria are applied to classifying crimes Classifying Crimes In the U.K.: According to the modes of trial, the Criminal Law Act (1977) classifies the crimes/offences into: (1) summary offences; (2) indictable only offences (serious offences triable only at the Crown Court); (3) offences that are triable either way, that is summarily or indictment. Classifying Crimes In the U.S. felonies misdemeanors In some states: felonies are crimes that are served in state prisons and misdemeanors are offenses served in county jail. Other states: crimes authorizing a sentence of imprisonment of over one year are felonies, while those authorizing sentences of one year or less are misdemeanors. Classifying Crimes In the U.S. Crimes against persons, crimes against property and crimes against government Crimes against persons: rape, kidnapping, murder etc. Crimes against property: theft, burglary, robbery, arson etc.