Ch. 3—Mens Rea

  • Mens rea—the mental state required for a material element of a criminal offense.
    • Model Penal Code § 2.02.
  • MPC § 1.12(10): "material element of a criminal offense"
    • this is an element that does not relate exclusively to the statute of limitations, jurisdiction, venue, etc. procedural factors.
  • MPC § 1.13(9): "element of an offense"
    • (i) such conduct or
      • What the ∆ does.
    • (ii) such attendant circumstances or
      • Attendant Circumstance (AC): the thing/fact in the world/universe that must be true for either the conduct or the result to happen.
      • Examples: for an offense of receiving stolen property—the property exists, the property was stolen; the theft occurred prior to receipt, etc.
    • (iii) such result of conduct as is included in the definition of the offense
      • What happens as a result of ∆'s conduct.
  • As to each material element, each material element must have at least one of these mental states:
    • Purposefully
    • Knowingly
    • Recklessly
    • Negligently
  • Purposefully
    • Purposeful = desire to do something.
    • Example: it is a crime to kill the President of the United States
      • Conduct: ∆ must perform killing
      • AC: Victim must be the President
      • Result: President must die.
  • Knowingly
    • Knowing = practically certain that it would happen
      • Conduct: ∆ is aware of what they are doing
      • AC: ∆ is aware that the circumstances exist—or is aware fo a high probability that they exist
      • Result: ∆ is aware that it is practically certain that his conduct will cause such a result.
  • Recklessly
    • Recklessness = consciously disregarding a substantial and unjustifiable risk that a material element exists or will result from certain conduct.
      • Conduct: must be gross deviation from the standard of conduct that a law-abiding person would observe in ∆'s situation
      • AC: the risk existed
      • Result: the risky/bad thing happened.
  • Negligently
    • Negligence = ∆ should have been aware of a substantial and unjustifiable risk that material element exists or will result from conduct.
      • Conduct: ∆ must perform a gross deviation form the standard of care that a reasonable person would observe in ∆'s situation.
      • AC: the risk existed.
      • Result: the risky/bad thing happened.
        Recklessness/Negligence Test:
  1. Would a reasonable person not perform this conduct?
    1. If yes, then move on.
  2. Were ∆'s actions a gross deviation from the standard of conduct? Is this a no-brainer?
    1. If yes to both, then move on.
  3. Did ∆ consciously disregard the risk?
    1. If yes: reckless (consciously disregarded)
    2. If no: negligent (should have known)
      Topics Here: