Criminal Law & Procedure Flashcards

Voluntary intoxication may negate the mental state for which of the following crimes?

Answer: Larceny

Voluntary intoxication is a defense only to specific intent crimes, and larceny requires intent to permanently deprive.

Under the M'Naghten test, a defendant is legally insane if, because of a mental disease, he:

Answer: Did not know the nature and quality of his act or that it was wrong

M'Naghten is a purely cognitive test focused on knowledge of the act's nature or wrongfulness.

For a general intent crime, a defendant's mistake of fact is a defense only if it is:

Answer: Honest and reasonable

General intent crimes require a reasonable mistake of fact, while specific intent crimes accept any honest mistake.

In most jurisdictions, duress is NOT a defense to which crime?

Answer: Intentional murder

Most jurisdictions hold that duress cannot excuse intentionally killing an innocent person.

Under the majority rule, must a non-aggressor retreat before using deadly force in self-defense?

Answer: No, there is no duty to retreat

The majority rule imposes no duty to retreat, though a minority requires retreat if it can be done in complete safety outside the home.

Under the subjective test for entrapment used by federal courts and most states, the key question is:

Answer: Whether the defendant was predisposed to commit the crime

The subjective test focuses on the defendant's predisposition rather than the government's conduct alone.

Under the Model Penal Code, when a statute is silent on the required mental state, what minimum culpability applies?

Answer: Recklessness

MPC 2.02(3) supplies recklessness as the default culpability when a statute is silent.