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Under United States law, an element of a crime (or element of an offense) is one of a set of facts that must all be proven to convict a defendant of a crime. Before a court finds a defendant guilty of a criminal offense, the prosecution must present evidence that, even when opposed by any evidence the defense may choose, is credible and sufficient to prove
beyond a reasonable doubt Beyond a reasonable doubt is a legal standard of proof required to validate a criminal conviction in most adversarial legal systems. It is a higher standard of proof than the balance of probabilities standard commonly used in civil cases, becau ...
that the defendant committed each element of the particular crime charged. The component parts that make up any particular crime vary now depending on the crime. The basic components of an offense are listed below; generally, each element of an offense falls into one or another of these categories. At common law, conduct could not be considered criminal unless a defendant possessed some level of intentioneither purpose, knowledge, or recklessnesswith regard to both the nature of his alleged conduct and the existence of the factual circumstances under which the law considered that conduct criminal. However, for some legislatively enacted crimes, the most notable example being
statutory rape In common law jurisdictions, statutory rape is nonforcible sexual activity in which one of the individuals is below the age of consent (the age required to legally consent to the behavior). Although it usually refers to adults engaging in sexual ...
, a defendant need not have had any degree of belief or willful disregard as to the existence of certain factual circumstances (such as the age of the accuser) that rendered his conduct criminal; such crimes are known as strict liability offenses.


Mental state (''Mens rea'')

'' Mens rea'' refers to the crime's mental elements of the defendant's
intent Intentions are mental states in which the agent commits themselves to a course of action. Having the plan to visit the zoo tomorrow is an example of an intention. The action plan is the ''content'' of the intention while the commitment is the ''a ...
. This is a necessary element—that is, the criminal act must be voluntary or purposeful. ''Mens rea'' is the mental intention (mental fault), or the defendant's state of mind at the time of the offense, sometimes called the ''guilty mind''. It stems from the ancient maxim of obscure origin, "actus reus non facit reum nisi mens sit reas" that is translated as "the act is not guilty unless the mind is guilty." For example, the ''mens rea'' of
aggravated battery Battery is a criminal offense involving unlawful physical contact, distinct from assault which is the act of creating apprehension of such contact. Battery is a specific common law offense, although the term is used more generally to refer to ...
is the intention to do serious bodily harm. ''Mens rea'' is almost always a necessary component in order to prove that a criminal act has been committed. ''Mens rea'' varies depending on the offense. For murder, the mental element requires the defendant acted with " malice aforethought". Others may require proof the act was committed with such mental elements such as "knowingly" or " willfulness" or " recklessness". Arson requires an intent to commit a forbidden act, while others such as murder require an intent to produce a forbidden result. Motive, the reason the act was committed, is not the same as ''mens rea'' and the law is not concerned with motive. Although most legal systems recognize the importance of the guilty mind or ''mens rea'', exactly what is meant by this concept varies. The
American Law Institute The American Law Institute (ALI) is a research and advocacy group of judges, lawyers, and legal scholars established in 1923 to promote the clarification and simplification of United States common law and its adaptation to changing social needs ...
's
Model Penal Code The Model Penal Code (MPC) is a model act designed to stimulate and assist U.S. state legislatures to update and standardize the penal law of the United States.MPC (Foreword). The MPC was a project of the American Law Institute (ALI), and was pu ...
has reduced mental states to four. In general, guilt can be attributed to an individual who acts "purposely," "knowingly," "recklessly," or "negligently." Together or in combination, these four attributes seem basically effective in dealing with most of the common ''mens rea'' issues.


Conduct (''Actus reus'')

All crimes require ''
actus reus (), sometimes called the external element or the objective element of a crime, is the Law Latin term for the "guilty act" which, when proved beyond a reasonable doubt in combination with the ("guilty mind"), produces criminal liability in th ...
''. That is, a
criminal act In ordinary language, a crime is an unlawful act punishable by a state or other authority. The term ''crime'' does not, in modern criminal law, have any simple and universally accepted definition,Farmer, Lindsay: "Crime, definitions of", in C ...
or an unlawful omission of an act, must have occurred. A person cannot be punished for thinking criminal thoughts. This element is based on the problem of standards of proof. How can another person's thoughts be determined and how can criminal thoughts be differentiated from idle thoughts? Further, the law's purview is not to punish criminal ideas but to punish those who act upon those ideas voluntarily. Unlike thoughts, words can be considered acts in criminal law. For example, threats, perjury,
conspiracy A conspiracy, also known as a plot, is a secret plan or agreement between persons (called conspirers or conspirators) for an unlawful or harmful purpose, such as murder or treason, especially with political motivation, while keeping their agr ...
, and
solicitation Solicitation is the act of offering, or attempting to purchase, goods and/or services. Legal status may be specific to the time or place where it occurs. The crime of "solicitation to commit a crime" occurs when a person encourages, "solicits, r ...
are offenses in which words can constitute the element of ''actus reus''. The omission of an act can also constitute the basis for criminal liability.


Concurrence

In general, ''mens rea'' and ''actus reus'' must occur at the same time—that is, the criminal intent must precede or coexist with the criminal act, or in some way activate the act. The necessary ''mens rea'' may not continually be present until the forbidden act is committed, as long as it activated the conduct that produced the criminal act. However, for criminal liability to occur, there must be either overt or voluntary action.


Causation

Many crimes include an element that actual harm must occur—in other words, causation must be proved. For example, homicide requires killing, and aggravated battery requires serious bodily injury and without those respective outcomes, those respective crimes would not be committed. A causal relationship between conduct and result is demonstrated if the act would not have happened without the direct participation of the offender. Causation is complex to prove. The act may be a "necessary but not sufficient" cause of criminal harm. Intervening events may have occurred between the act and the result. Therefore, the cause of the act and the forbidden result must be "proximate", or near in time.


See also

* Criminal law *
Impossibility defense An impossibility defense is a criminal defense occasionally used when a defendant is accused of a criminal attempt that failed only because the crime was factually or legally impossible to commit. Factual impossibility is rarely an adequat ...
*
Corpus delicti (Latin for "body of the crime"; plural: ), in Western law, is the principle that a crime must be proved to have occurred before a person can be convicted of committing that crime. For example, a person cannot be tried for larceny unless it can ...


References


Citations


Sources

* {{cite book , last = Bonnie , first = Richard J. , title = Criminal Law , publisher = The Foundation Press, Inc. , date = 1997 , location = Westbury, New York , ISBN = 1-56662-448-7 , display-authors = etal


External links


Laws on Crime
United States criminal law Forensic psychology