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Understanding Criminal Law: Homicide, Assault, Battery, and Rape, Study notes of Sociology of Education

An overview of various crimes under the umbrella of criminal law, focusing on homicide (murder and manslaughter), assault and battery, and rape. It covers degrees of murder, voluntary and involuntary manslaughter, assault, battery, and different types of rape. It also discusses the concept of force and statutory rape, as well as rape shield laws and corroboration.

Typology: Study notes

Pre 2010

Uploaded on 07/28/2009

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Outline: Crimes against the person (Ch. 9)
Crimes against the person include all crimes that. . .well, are against people directly.
These include: (1) homicide (including murder, manslaughter); (2) assault and battery;
and (3) rape. Consider the following in your understanding of each of these crimes.
I . Murder: There is no simple definition of “murder” that is sufficient to distinguish
killings that are murder from killings that are not. At the most general level, murder is
defined as the unlawful killing of another person.
A. Degrees of murder
1. First degree murder: In most states, this is killing that is "premeditated and
deliberate."
D hates his wife. Before killing her, he writes out an elaborate plan on how he is
going to carry it out. He kills her, and the police find the written plan, which he
has followed to the letter. First-degree murder?
Point:
_________________________________________________________________________________
What if in the above scenario the police also find out that D stood to inherit
millions from his wife is she was dead. Does this make any difference?
Point:
_________________________________________________________________________________
D is arrested after her husband is killed. Police find the body laying in bed, with a
sleepmask on, earplugs in his ears. There is no sign of struggle. He has three
bullet wounds in the side of his head. What can the police infer about his killing?
Point:
_________________________________________________________________________________
2. Second degree murder: Murders that aren't first degree. See the following:
D is angry at V for reneging on a debt. D beats V with brass knuckles, intending only
to break V's nose and jaw, and to knock out most of his teeth. If V unexpectedly
dies, is this murder? If so, which kind?
Point:
_________________________________________________________________________________
D punches V in the face, intending merely to knock V down. V strikes his head while
falling, and dies. Is this murder? If so, which kind?
Point:
_________________________________________________________________________________
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Outline: Crimes against the person (Ch. 9)

Crimes against the person include all crimes that.. .well, are against people directly. These include: (1) homicide (including murder, manslaughter); (2) assault and battery; and (3) rape. Consider the following in your understanding of each of these crimes. I. Murder : There is no simple definition of “murder” that is sufficient to distinguish killings that are murder from killings that are not. At the most general level, murder is defined as the unlawful killing of another person. A. Degrees of murder

1. First degree murder : In most states, this is killing that is "premeditated and deliberate."  D hates his wife. Before killing her, he writes out an elaborate plan on how he is going to carry it out. He kills her, and the police find the written plan, which he has followed to the letter. First-degree murder? Point:


 What if in the above scenario the police also find out that D stood to inherit millions from his wife is she was dead. Does this make any difference? Point: 

 D is arrested after her husband is killed. Police find the body laying in bed, with a sleepmask on, earplugs in his ears. There is no sign of struggle. He has three bullet wounds in the side of his head. What can the police infer about his killing? Point: 

  1. Second degree murder : Murders that aren't first degree. See the following:  D is angry at V for reneging on a debt. D beats V with brass knuckles, intending only to break V's nose and jaw, and to knock out most of his teeth. If V unexpectedly dies, is this murder? If so, which kind? Point:

 D punches V in the face, intending merely to knock V down. V strikes his head while falling, and dies. Is this murder? If so, which kind? Point:


 D sets fire to a building where he knows people are sleeping; he does not desire their death, but knows that there is a high risk of death. One inhabitant dies in the fire. Murder? If so, which kind? Point:


 D fires a bullet into a passing passenger train, without any intent to kill any particular person. The bullet happens to strike and kill V, a passenger. Murder? If so, which kind? Point:


  1. Felony Murder : Under the felony-murder rule, if D, while he is in the process of committing certain felonies, kills another (even accidentally), the killing is murder. In other words, intent to commit any of certain felonies (including robbery, rape, burglary, arson, assault and kidnapping) is sufficient to meet the mens rea requirement for murder. This is usually treated as a first degree murder.  D, while carrying a loaded gun, decides to rob V, a pedestrian. While D is pointing his gun at V and demanding money, the gun accidentally goes off, and kills V. Murder? Point:

 On a city street, D points a gun at V and says, "Your money or your life." While V is reaching into his pocket for his wallet, D drops his gun. The gun strikes the pavement and goes off accidentally, killing V. Is this murder? Point:


 D goes to rob V, pulling a gun on her. V pulls a gun herself and gets off a shot in self- defense. Instead of hitting D, she hits bystander X. Is D guilty of felony murder? Point:


 What if a second robber (X) dies, shot by the victim, a police officer, or another felon? Is this enough to trigger the felony-murder rule (against first robber, D)? Point:


NOTE : The felony-murder rule applies only to killings which occur "in the commission of" a felony.

 V, a man, slaps D, a man, because D has failed to pay back a debt. Is this adequate provocation if D kills V in a "heat of passion"? Point:


 What if V and D are in a fight, in which neither one can be said to have been the aggressor. Is this adequate provocation for a heat of passion killing? Point:


 What if a husband finds his wife in bed with another man, and then kills his wife and her lover? Adequate provocation? Point:


 What about words alone? What if the V says to the D, "You know, you really are a spineless wuss." Is that enough? Point:


 What if the words contain information: "You know, I've been having an affair with your wife for the last six months. She's really good if you know what I mean, and we'd like you to give her a divorce so that we can get married." Enough? Point:


(b) Actually acted in the "heat of passion" : D was in fact in a "heat of passion" at the time he acted.  D finds his wife together with V, his best friend. D has in fact suspected the affair for some time, and thus coolly says to himself, "Now's my chance to kill V and get off with voluntary manslaughter." He cold-bloodly shoots V in the heart. Voluntary manslaughter? Point:


(c) No time for reasonable person to cool off : The lapse of time between the provocation and the killing was not great enough that a reasonable person would have "cooled off," i.e., regained his self-control.  D searches for 17 hours before finding and killing the man who raped his wife. Manslaughter?

Point:


 D is raped by V. Two weeks go by. While visiting a mall, D sees V and, after V makes a lewd gesture to D, she shoots him dead. Heat of passion? Point:


(d) D not in fact cooled off : D did not in fact "cool off" by the time he killed.

  1. Involuntary manslaughter : A person whose behavior is grossly negligent may be liable for involuntary manslaughter if his conduct results in the accidental death of another person.  D kills V, a pedestrian, by driving at 50 mph in a 30 mph residential zone just for fun. When would D's conduct be grossly negligent? Is this involuntary manslaughter? Point:

 What if this same person is driving his wife, who is having a heart attack and dying, drives 50 mph in a 30 mph residential zone, and kills a pedestrian. Is this involuntary manslaughter? Point:


II. Assault and Battery A. Battery : The crime of battery exists where D causes either (1) bodily injury; or (2) offensive touching. There doesn’t need to be any intent to harm here.. .it’s just the act.  If D punches V, and V gets a bruise, is this a battery? What if there is no bruise? Point:


 D, without V's consent, kisses V. Is this battery? Point:


 D's intent to inflict the offensive touching or the injury will be good enough, of course. But what if the D commits the contact recklessly? Say D throws a baseball with a friend, in a crowded city street. The ball strikes V, a passerby. If D was reckless in the way he threw the ball/played catch, is this battery? Point:


would cure the disease. This second option only cost $4500. She agreed to the second alternative, and she had sex with the "donor" who met her at a hotel. She only paid the donor $1000, however, which counted for a "down payment." Is this rape? Point:


 Scott and Shari are college juniors who have had three dates. On these dates, they have never engaged in any sexual activity beyond a brief good-night kiss. On their fourth date, he invites her to an all-night drinking party at his fraternity house. She drinks too much, goes up to his room alone around 1 a.m., and falls asleep. In the morning, she wakes up to discover that they had intercourse during the night. Rape? Point:


 At midnight, a man breaks into the home of a woman he does not know. He goes to her bedroom, awakens her, pulls out a knife, and threatens to stab her unless she has sex with him. She tells him that she does not want to have sex. But then she says, "If you are going to do this, you'd better use a condom." He agrees. Rape? Point:


D. Force  General question: Is force necessary for a rape to be a rape? What kind of force? Physical? Psychological? Point:


E. Statutory Rape : We've talked about this one before.. .statutory rape is usually having intercourse with a female below the age of consent in a given state.  What if the man in this situation thought the girl was of age and really she looks it? Is he off the hook? Point:


 What if she lies about her age? And.. .she looks older than she really is? And she goes along? Is this statutory rape? Point:


 What if the victim is male? What if an older woman has sex with an underage boy? Statutory rape?

Point:


F. Rape shield laws  Why do you think defense attorneys sought to disclose rape victim's sexual pasts in rape trials? Could this information be relevant? Point:


G. Corroboration  To obtain a conviction, some state laws also require other evidence, called corroboration , in addition to the testimony of the victim, to get a rape conviction. What do you think of this requirement? Point: